Starlight
by Silvera Sea
Summary: There are many things that happen in the universe that are too convenient to be mere coincidence. Primus works in mysterious ways, and as far as Sideswipe can tell, those ways are all against him. Photo courtesy of Nasa
1. Prologue: Earthbound

**Before I begin, I would like to welcome any readers to my world of Starlight. It's a story that for several years was on the assembly line, and it is the conglomerate of ideas spawning from different sources. This is my addiction, my project.**

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Date Published: 11/15/2010

Last Revision Date: 11/25/2012

Revision note (11/25/2012): Added Scientific notes.

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_Disclaimer: _Transformers _is the intellectual property of Hasbro and the author has no claim to any associated ideas or characters mentions in this fanfiction. All ideas used from other Fanfiction authors are used with their consent and the author has no claim to them in any way or form._

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**Enjoy book one of the Star-Series: Starlight.**

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Starlight Prologue:

Earthbound

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o.0.O.0.o

Space is as mysterious as it is vast. Its size alone is too much for a single mind to comprehend. Sure, scientist could numerically determine its size, but knowing a number is far different than being able to comprehend what it means. Yet one wouldn't have to know its size to understand that the chance of meeting another form of intelligent life was small, and the chances that one would meet another of the same race after leaving their place of origin was so infinitesimally small that it would be easier to label it impossible. Yet on the edge of a galaxy, near a small yellow star, two beings were soaring who had just had such an encounter.

Both were similar in build and programming when compared with the diversity found in their species. They were both metal, and they both could change into three different forms… and despite the inability for sound to travel in a vacuum, both were communicating with each other.

{_Astrotrain, the Autobot's trajectory seems to be in a collision course with the organic planet._} The wave of information traveled in a direct path to reverberate throughout the metal plates of a royal purple carrier, the sensors there sent the waves into the processor, and the processor translated it into an understandable language.

The shuttle seemed to shudder for a moment, before responding to his companion. {_Yes, I know Blitzwing. Do you still want to track him? We've already captured his companion._}

{_He could lead us to the Autobots._}

{_Fine, but how will we find him once he lands? He is 4 joors ahead of us._} Questioned the carrier.

{_We land where he lands. __He shouldn't be able to travel far with that thing on his back. At most all we will need to track him __is our short-ranged sensors_.} Responded the khaki and purple colored jet.

{_Alright._} The alternating of radio waves gave way to a brief pause, both beings swept away into their own thoughts.

It had been about an orn ago when the two had quite literally run into two Autobots traveling around an asteroid. Both were lean and had similar build, but one had an item attached to his back through connected cables. Both sides were not expecting such an encounter, as it had been so long since they had spotted anyone. There was a brief pause as each side regarded the other in confusion, before the bots pulled their acts together and their blasters out.

Each side fired a couple shots, testing the reflexes of their enemies. The Decepticons managed to drive the two Autobots into the gravity field of the asteroid where they crashed. Both Decepticons had flown above the Autobots, taking advantage of their ground limitations. Yet they were both shocked into momentary inaction when they found out that one of the Autobots could fly as well. He was obviously not a flyer; the mech's flying at best could only be called clumsy, but nevertheless there was some kind of contraption on his back that enabled him to fly short distances, and most alarmingly, onto the back of Astrotrain.

The other thankfully did not seem to possess this skill as he did not follow his comrade. It would be this that decided the fate of the rest of the battle.

Blitzwing managed to shoot the flying one off Astrotrain's back while dodging shots from the one on the ground. The shot seemed to have luckily hit the jet pack the Autobot was undoubtedly using, and the Autobot couldn't soften his fall. The two Decepticons let out an onslaught of plasma onto the two, more shots hitting the fallen one then the other. The injuries the fallen one obtained were severe on the body, but it was nothing a Decepticon medic couldn't fix… if he was needed for information. If not, then the bot would be handed over to Hook who had several experiments as of late that he wanted to test. Given the rumors on the nature of Hook's experiments, the Decepticons knew torture to be the better option.

The two Decepticon flyers approached the one they had shut down, Astrotrain pulling out stasis cuffs while Blitzwing continued to fire on the other Autobot.

The captured Autobot called out to his companion, telling him to flee. The other Autobot hesitated for a moment then fled as soon as he saw what condition his companion was in. Astrotrain sneered, it was unusual that an Autobot would abandon his comrade, but not unheard of. The mech was a coward, and though they were interested in what he carried, it didn't matter. They had their prize.

With an Autobot in possession, they had traveled to the Nemisis. It was stationed inside the solar system, hidden on one of the moons orbiting around the sixth planet in the star's orbit. Starscream, acting as commander now that Megatron had undisputedly died, accepted the prisoner. Apparently there was still need of Autobot intel. The lucky slagger would be spared from Hook's experiments.

Choosing their next course of action, they had left the craft to travel after the other Autobot. There was no doubt in their minds that the Autobot was heading towards the organic planet to hide amongst the natives. If he had tried to escape through space, he wouldn't have a chance.

It really was pathetic how most Autobots were grounded. When one dominated the skies, one dominated space. It was very unlikely that a bot without strong propulsion systems could win a battle in space where the only things you had to push off of were your enemies and space debris. The Decepticons were destined to win from the start of the war while the Autobots could only continue to lose ground.

Sad really.

o.0.O.0.o

Currently the mech being pursued was slowly readjusting the plates on his form, gathering the excess metal on his frontal curve. He sent a signal to the form he was attached to, manually instructing the form to protect itself the same way he was protecting himself. The planet he was heading towards had a thick atmosphere, and even he was informed enough to know of the friction created upon re-entry.

The planet he had decided to land on was organic, filled with life. It was fortunate that the dominant species had created metallic land vehicles that the primitive race could travel in, otherwise landing there would have been about as useful as landing on a deserted planet.

He had learned through accessing the network that seemed to surround the planet what language the natives spoke. It amazed him to review through all the information the beings that called themselves 'humans' had. Many of the things displayed on their information network seemed useless. The being sighed as he wondered how long he would be marooned on the planet.

As he passed through the thermosphere, he felt his 'pod' form collide with an object as he was entering the outer edges of the planet, knocking it out of its original path. He wondered briefly if that object was important to the organics on this planet. No matter, it wasn't worth bothering himself over.

Soon the traveler and his package passed through the mesosphere, the first flames began to lick upon the two forms, heating the metal until it was a glowing red. The heat seemed to be intent on melting the plating off the two, but the alloys that they were created out of was much stronger than that found on the planet below, and would not bend for the slight heat. The fire soon disappeared, its mission unsuccessful.

The two forms crashed through the gasses that surrounded the planet, the liquid that formed what the creatures called 'clouds' accompanied by the wind swiftly cooled the two crafts, their metal hardening with the cold. The clouds he sifted through left a liquid residue on his person.

As the mech passed through the cumulonimbus layer, an object beeped onto his sensors, right in his path. The mech could only spew profanities as he and the jet liner (though he didn't know the word for the craft) collided with each other in midair.

The impact dented several of the mech's plating together, shaking his framework. The object that he had been attached to was brutally ripped away, a few cords that the mech used to attach the other object to him severed, rippling in the wind. Suddenly, his connection to the communications network disappeared, taking all his knowledge on his current location with it.

Two projectiles flew separate ways, one heading straight for the ground, the other heading further down south. The third, a craft that knew none of what had happened, flew and crashed into the waters below. Thankfully most of the humans had survived the crash, but they unanimously swore off flying ever again.

As for the mech and his package, they landed many miles away from each other.

It would be awhile before the two met again.

o.0.O.0.o

Scientific Notes:

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Radio Waves vs. Sound Waves in a Vacuum

Astronautics: Starscream

Cycle 98/ Vorn 2289

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Dear Councilors,

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It is necessary when concerning space travel that there are several methods available to complete an assigned task, and if possible for a single device to be have multiple uses. To relay messages mechs usually prefer to speak audibly for their unique vocal patterns are not carried over when using their comm. link. However, because sound consists of vibrations, sound cannot travel in a vacuum.

Sound is, in essence, a subtle vibration of matter that travels through different mediums, acting as a compression wave propagated from its center. While sound can travel through all types of matter, it oscillates best through solids. In space, there is no matter to oscillate, and thus sound is nonexistent.

Though Cybertron is not an organic world, it contains a faint atmosphere. It enables us to speak to each other without the need for comm. links, which, while useful in their own regard, can take up processing space needed for other tasks.

Comm. links are the most often used communications system in space as they are run using radio waves. Radio waves are a form of electromagnetic waves and as such are formed differently when compared to sound waves. While sound waves are composed of the oscillation of matter, radio waves are independent, composed of magnetic and electric fields. Like all other electromagnetic waves radio waves travel at the speed of light and only slow when striking an electrically conductive object. This greatly escalates the usefulness of Comm. links in space.

However, due to the need of many Cybertronians to communicate using sound, I propose that we add a small atmosphere inside all future spaceships. This will not only give Cybertronians a way of communication when their Comm. links are indisposed, it will also give others a way to de-stress when traveling for long periods of time. At the faint possibility that one of our explorers comes across an organic world, it will also give them the opportunity to quickly adapt their ships to sustain organic life forms without having to completely reformat their crafts, as those ships will already be capable of sustaining an atmosphere.

I believe that such a change, while costly, is the best way to continue forward for future endeavors in the exploration of space.

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Starscream,

Student of Aeronautics, Astronautics, and Theoretical Astrobiology

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Dear Starscream,

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Your proposition has been reviewed and denied.

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Therium Steel,

Lead Councilor

o.0.O.0.o

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And, cut!

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**First off, this story could not be made without the use of several ideas. First I would like to thank-**

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**Ray of Starlight****- For her story 'Twin Times the Fun' which inspired me to write a Sideswipe roadtrip fic.**

**A Midnight Dreary****- For her story 'Til All Are One' and her ideas that will be appearing in later books.**

**Nidia Ceylon****- For her story 'Shattered' which was the whole inspiration for book two and for the use of her ideas in later books.**

**And last, but certainly not least I would like to thank-**

**Faecat****- For agreeing to be my Beta and for her wonderful story, 'Science and Fiction', which I believe revolutionized the Transformers fandom.**

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**Thank you all, for without you, I wouldn't have been able to come up with such a fic, let alone post it.**

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**Now, this is one book of many to come. There will be four total, but in between these I will post side stories that will be focusing on specific characters only, to give their stories more light. I will announce when I have posted them in these author notes. Another thing that I will post along with these stories is the story base I have written up. Each chapter will be a single book, and it will show the characters in that particular book and what their status is. It will be continually updated along with the story, and it will not post characters that haven't show up yet (thus the updates). I plan to post the beginnings of the next book as soon as I post the end of the previous book, so you shouldn't have to continually check my pages.**

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**Anyways, I believe I have said all I wanted to. My thanks to anyone who has read this far, I really appreciate it!**

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**With much love**

**-Silvera**


	2. Landed and Grounded

**Hello,**** I hope you enjoy!**

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Date Posted: 11/16/2010

Last Revision Date: 7/15/2013

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_Disclaimer: All ideas created by Hasbro are owned by said company and I have no claim to them in any way. All ideas created by Fanfiction authors belong to those listed and I have no claim to them in any way._

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Starlight Chapter 1:

Landed and Grounded

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o.0.O.0.o

_The pulses of his heart beat throughout his body, vibrating his core. Blood dipped in adrenaline coursed into his brain, causing him to intake images and process through them faster than he had ever done before. His breath came out ragged, lungs desperate to gather any form of oxygen to fuel his mad sprint. Behind him, he could hear the frightening sound of metal on concrete._

"You can't run from me, boy!"_ A ragged voice, cracked with electronic tones, sounded out._

_Tall buildings rose on either side of him, obscuring his vision. Shadows leered at him from the alleyways; dark orange lights peered at him like eyes. The streets and sidewalks were abandoned, but it felt as if a thousand eyes were peering down at him from the skyscrapers, specters that never moved, but always watched._

_The footsteps came closer._

_No breezes blew, not a sound was heard besides that which came behind him. The sun beat down on him, cracking his lips. Water hid from where his feet brought him, and even the shadows ran from his touch. All abandoned him._

"I have you!_"_

_The voice had to be lying. It couldn't have him. He wasn't in its grasp yet, so how could the being have him?_

_The boy's thoughts stopped as he felt metallic claws wrap around his abdomen. The cold steel bit through his flimsy shirt, freezing his skin. The hand lifted him up and turned him around, bringing a large metallic mass into his view. The beast was staring at him, illuminating his body in a steady glow as night had suddenly taken the place of daylight, but he refused to meet the creature's eyes._

"Look at me._" The creature growled._

_His eyes turned upward, and he gaped. The figure that had him in his grasp was a familiar shade of red and blue. Metal prongs arose from either side of his face, receptors to more faint waves. But it was his eyes that scared him the most. Only optics filled with hatred stared where loving blue optics had previously been, as red as the blood that flowed through his frail body._

_The boy couldn't even scream as the claws closed around his body, squeezing him. He felt his lungs crying out with the pressure, heard his ribs slowly giving way, until they snapped. His heart pounded in rapid succession trying to reassure him that it, that he, would live for another day, and for a moment, he thought he would. Then his heart cut out, and he heard nothing._

o.0.O.0.o

Sam shot up from his bed, clutching his shirt where his heart was trying to beat out of his body. He gasped in air for his desperate lungs, and for a brief moment he choked on his own breath like silent sobs, but no tears escaped from his eyes. His body shook with fear, and he didn't dare close his eyes. Red optics had been permanently seared on the backs of his eyelids.

Moonbeams fell upon a small bit of his flooring, lighting the hardwood pale silver. His face was continually dyed red as the numbers on his digital alarm clock blinked on and off. The startled boy cocked his head, staring at the numbers… 12:38 glared back at him.

"Sam?"

The boy, having experienced this before, was only slightly startled as he saw the light in his room stream together and condense in a single figure, forming where the voice he had heard originated.

Emerging from the light was a teen. Flawless skin was created by moonbeams with hair to imitate gold, along with the most brilliant blue eyes that seemed to glow in the shadows. He was dressed in dark blue jeans, a yellow shirt that hugged his form, and a black leather jacket that had two yellow stripes down the back. His whole form was muscular, but his face betrayed his innocence. Yet despite how tangible the figure appeared Sam knew that if he tried to grab him his hand would just pass through.

"Hey, Bee." Sam spoke to the figure.

It had only been two days since the battle at Mission City. In that time, Sam learned that most Cybertronians were equipped with holo-generators that allowed them to create visuals that occupied three dimensions of space. Apparently every member of Optimus's team was equipped with one for the purpose of blending in. Using their sensors like sonar, they could create an image in their processors of what was going on around them, and have the hologram act accordingly. They were also able to emit their voice from the hologram, but the science behind such things passed right over Sam's head.

"Is everything alright?"

"Everything's... normal." Sam knew that he couldn't lie to his friend, but he didn't want to open up just yet.

Bee took the hint and he changed the subject. He wouldn't pester his friend, but when needed, he would help. "You will be attending school tomorrow, correct?"

Sam groaned and rubbed his face, stretching the skin like putty. "Don't remind me. I'll get a ton of homework to make up, no doubt." He paused as another thought came to him, "And school's over in a couple days anyways!"

"What is the official excuse?" Bumblebee asked, curious.

"Something to do with me being in Mission City when the 'terrorists' attacked. Apparently I had a minor injury, or was sufficiently traumatized enough that I needed two days of rest before heading back to school." Thank goodness the attack was over the weekend, otherwise an excuse as to why he was there and not at school would have had to have been made up. Or perhaps they would have come up with a different excuse altogether? "Either that or I was too freaked at being in the city when it was attacked. How's everything?"

Bee understood the layers of the question. "The government has granted us permission to stay and have allowed us to use some of their resources as long as we share some of our technology. But the relation is sketchy. They wanted access to our weapons, but Optimus wouldn't grant them that request."

"Perfect. Just what we need, a fully fusion powered army... Or worse, energon weapons." The teen mumbled, sleep still in his eyes as he gazed at his friend's human form.

"Humans wouldn't be able to gather energon without us." Bumblebee pointed out before continuing on his debriefing. "Ratchet's complaining about the lack of sturdy materials to patch us up with, Ironhide's using the multiple rock formations surrounding the base for target practice, and Optimus is knee deep in forms to read through and sign."

"So it's basically chaos."

"Basically."

Sam kneaded his eyes with his palms as a subject popped into his brain. "Mom's firm on her decision." Bee was quiet as he processed the information, and Sam took that as an invitation to continue. "Dad's, well... he's dad. He's a little iffy on the subject, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind so long as Mom's okay with it." He let out a deep sigh. "Frankly, I don't know what to do."

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"No-Yes... I don't know." He waved his arm around, trying to encourage his mind to come up with more ideas. "Maybe." He rectified. "I don't know how, yet, but I know that I need to change Moms mind, and you'll be key in doing that."

Bumblebee made the hologram raise his eyebrows, curious over what Sam had in mind.

Sam glanced up from where he had ducked his head. "Mom won't be convinced to let me keep contact unless some proof comes, and it can't be just what I say." Sam nervously stood and paced as his mind started to become overwhelmed by the situation. "You need to stay here, I know that. I know the danger I'm still in, if only because I helped defeat Megatron." Bumblebee was still standing awkwardly, looking as if he didn't quite exactly know what to do. Sam's eyes were slowly adjusting to the light that the scout's hologram emitted, but the light still irritated his cornea. His speech began to speed as he continued. "Mom, I don't know how to convince her. B-but it can't come just from my mouth. Perhaps if she heard your story? No- if you tell her too much then she'll just be upset that I was dragged into your war. We could smooth it out some, I mean, you technically are a teen-"

"Sam!"

Abruptly, the nervous teen stopped his frantic pacing, only just realizing that he had heard his friend call out to him three times before reacting. His stunned face stared into Bumblebee's blue eyes, nerves still shot.

"Relax." Bumblebee had seen the way the boy's heart had beat faster and faster with each passing moment, the results of his scans caused an ache in Bumblebee's spark for the boy who had been dragged into their war. "We'll work something out, just not right now. It's one in the morning, you should be sleeping at this hour."

"You're right." Sam stated, hurriedly. "I-I mean, now's the time to sleep, right? I mean, geez, who would be awake at this hour-"

"Sam." Bumblebee repeated a little more quietly than he had previously. He didn't need to speak, he could tell by Sam's eyes that he understood.

"Right." The boy let out a breath, trying to forcefully soothe his body. He let out a much slower breath the second time, and his heart pounded back to a more normal, relaxing rhythm.

Quiet settled over the two as the boy went and sat back down onto his bed, trying his best not to think, not to stimulate his body further, but his body wouldn't let him be. The silence of the room brought back the glowing red eyes, and his heart started to beat faster. Fear gripped onto his soul, and Sam knew he wouldn't be able to rest tonight, unless... "Can I stay with you tonight, Bee?"

Bumblebee nodded his head, more than willing to help in any way he could. He had sensed Sam's heart beginning to race again, and knew that whatever was bothering his ward currently was the same issue that the boy didn't want to talk about. The problem had to center around the battle.

He remembered when the war was still young, mechs who had never known the troubles of battle were suddenly thrown into one. Many mechs would break down after skirmishes, but while the battles were actually happening, the soldiers could do nothing but focus on surviving. Post-Traumatic stress, the humans called it. Soon the war had spit out any who could not handle the sheer brutality of war, and only the mechs who had hardened their sparks had remained sane.

That wouldn't happen to Sam, Bumblebee would make sure of it. "I'm just on the left side of your house, down the block."

"See you there."

The hologram blinked and dissipated, letting the room settle back into darkness.

o.0.O.0.o

Sam slipped on a jacket over his pajamas, not bothering to change his pants. He only needed a layer of extra warmth for a few minutes to get to where he needed to go. All around him he heard the house creak as the temperatures of the night dipped to their lowest. Sam cringed as his door squeaked, regretting that he continually procrastinated greasing the hinges. As he stepped into the hall, he could hear his dad snoring in the last room at the end of the house. He quietly stepped on the right edge of the floor where the wood flooring connected to the support beams, so as not to add to the incessant creaking noises.

Soon the boy was down the stairs and at the front door, deciding what shoes to wear. He finally slipped on his slippers, counting on Bumblebee to wake him up before his parents so that he could slip into the house unnoticed.

The night air was refreshingly chill as it skimmed his cheek, bringing him to a higher state of consciousness. The sky was clouded over, but the light of the moon fought through the cloud bank, leaving a luminescent imprint on the masses of moisture that floated in the sky. Trees created an archway for Sam to walk through, leading him to the yellow and black striped Camaro only twenty feet away.

The car's engine rumbled as the boy drew near, opening its passenger door to invite him in. He gladly accepted the invitation, smiling as warm air greeted him. "Thanks."

The radio trilled happily in response, echoing the voice of the Cybertronian.

The engine rumbled with a familiar purr as the disguised being brought the seat down. As he'd studied humans over the years he had heard of how car rides could relax their passengers, and so Bumblebee slowly slid past the sidewalk, steering onto the now familiar treads of pavement.

Sam's eyes were closed but he felt the motion with his body, and he smiled, content to lie in this peaceful setting. His body was slowly rocked back and forth as the vehicle made constant turns, and on a subconscious level, the boy likened it to being rocked in his crib as a newborn. The edges of unconsciousness gripped him, but it was no longer the cold threatening claws it once was, but a welcoming blanket of peace.

o.0.O.0.o

Dreams can be many things. Some are a mix between truth and lies, mixing together the known fantasy and reality to create messages of what a subconscious mind might be thinking. Some are there because we have exposed our brains to incessant explorations of a single universe that we have discovered through media or perhaps a realm of our own musing, causing so much familiarity between us and what we have seen that it would only be destined to pop into our dreams from time to time. There are several that portray our fears, mixing our truths with what we are afraid might become our new truths, and these many times twist into a frightful array of images. Some are so bizarre that it wouldn't seem far-fetched to label them as sheer lunacy, the workings of a mind that has many 'strings loose' so to speak.

But there are other kinds, kinds that you could only wish were dreams. Dogs dream, it is true, but the dreams they experience are not formed by multiple thoughts thrown into some mishap. They dream memories. It is these dreams that most people fear, dreams that relay our most embarrassing, hateful, and heartbreaking memories. Dreams where you must re-experience what has already happened, where you don't realize it is a dream. Or perhaps it is worse, you realize it is a dream, and you rest with the knowledge that you cannot rewrite history and change your past. You are forced to stare at it, it may have been your mistake, or perhaps not, but you can do nothing to change it, no matter how your heart cries out. You come face to face with the turning point in your life, and you can only think '_There is no turning back_.'

o.0.O.0.o

_There was a painted unicorn on her wall. It was a glaring white against a pink backdrop. All the walls in her room were pink, she thought proudly. She had convinced her papa to let momma paint it that color. He said it was too 'girly', and she had giggled at him, saying "_But I am a girl, silly!"

_The girl smiled at the fond memory, and glanced around her room. There was a strip of unicorns, going around every wall. Their horns were luminescent, glowing with every color of the rainbow. The carpet that blanketed her room was soft and creamy. It looked good with all the stuff she had decided to decorate her room with._

_All the storage boxes she had chosen were red, green, blue, and yellow, and they all shined because they were made of what her momma called 'Plastic'. They pressed against the wall, opposite the door. The rack was short enough that the boxes wouldn't cover the window, as she wanted all the sunlight she could get. Her closet was on the left wall, and it was always open. Daddy had bought her a new bean bag after she had popped her old one, and she decided she liked this one better, __because it was still pink, but also extremely fuzzy._ The giant bean bag sat at one end of the permanently opened closet, and at the other was a purple dresser that momma had chosen. She said it looked good against all the other colors, and momma never lied. Her bed was both framed and covered with pink sheets, the best color. It was a twin bed, too large for her, and so she had made it cozier by arranging all of her stuffed animals at the head of the bed. It was there, nestled between many fantasy creatures and stuffed animals, that she surveyed her room.

_It was a perfect room, she decided. Fit for a princess._

_She smiled, growing warm from the covers she was under. But her face soon started to frown, as she realized it was too warm. Then as soon as that thought came to mind, everything came and went._

_A loud roar overtook everything, and frantic screaming could be heard under the layers, but not made out. Her room shimmered with red and orange light._

_And then she saw her unicorn, across from her and forever silently staring into an unknown world, never would it be able to face her. The eye white was melting, dripping into a tear. It fell onto the cream carpet, dying everything in her vision white. And echoing off the walls of white, she could hear her own voice as she screamed, fading along with all the truths that she once knew, as they became a lie._

o.0.O.0.o

Pale gray eyes opened in the quite of the room, the body belonging to those eyes female. Her blond hair splayed out on her pillow and her skin was dotted with sweat, causing her hair to stick to the skin on the nape of her neck as she arose. Her breath came in ragged gasps at the memory she had just relived, and silent tears streaked down her cheek.

In a fit of rage, she threw the covers off of herself, letting her skin, only covered in a silky nightgown, touch the open air. She stood up in a rush, ignoring the way her head swam from the motion, instead opting to escape the confinements of her house.

Pale feet traversed the wooden hallway, each step instinctive from traveling the path many times before. The texture under her feet changed as she walked into the kitchen, stone tile seeping tendrils of cold into the skin touching them. Soon she came to a sliding glass door, and it moved at her slightest touch.

Night air caressed her cheek as she stepped onto the patio. A slight breeze that blew from the ocean ruffled her nightgown, but she wasn't cold. It was summertime, and as such the Washington air had warmed up considerably.

The patio behind her house was overlooking the ocean since the house itself was on a hill top. She almost found herself lost amidst the universe that the ocean displayed, each star and every single snippet of moonlight shining past the horizon reflected on the crests of the waves.

Her house was newly made, built when she was seven. There was nothing that remained of the old house, even the foundation had been torn up in replacement for a more sturdy and weatherproof one. The grass around the house was fresh, new blades pushing through the soil, fighting for dominance. The last winter had cleared the ground for new competition. A single green vine was thriving amidst the new foliage, latching onto the red cedar railing of a gazebo situated twenty feet from the house, stepping stones leading up to its interior.

There were no remains of a fire besides the small scorch marks on a single tree that grew a few feet from the house.

Thinking back on her dream, the teen allowed a single tear to fall from her eye. She had sworn when she was younger that she wouldn't reflect back on that night, but when her mind decided to relive it for her, she unintentionally lowered the floodgates of her emotions for a single instance. It had happened so often it was almost a custom.

She quickly blinked back the remaining moisture in her eyes, not needing –nor wanting- to continue. Acceptance would come at its own time, but she refused for it to be now.

Alert and outside, the girl decided to not return to the warmth of her bed yet. It was summer vacation, after all, and there was no rule stating that she couldn't sleep in when the morning came.

Her mind set, she pulled up the lounge chair in the outdoor living area. It was already furnished with cushy padding colored a warm brown, matching the tones of the outdoors perfectly. The foam fit to her form as she lay down upon it, seemingly more comfortable than her own bed. She folded her pale hands together and rested them on her stomach, and turned her eyes towards the heavens.

The band of stars that made up the Milky Way was the first thing that was brought to her attention, the thick mass of stars outshining those on the outer edges. The moon itself had already descended below her eye level, leaving her with only the byproduct of its light as several stars had receded into the black backdrop of the sky.

As she watched the slow moving motion of the stars, she quickly spotted a satellite, the light of the sun reflected off of it to make it look like a fast moving star. Then she cocked her head in confusion as the satellite blinked out of existence, only for a stronger light to announce its presence.

Her eyes lit up in excitement as she realized that she was witnessing a shooting star. The burning light stretched towards her and behind her as the meteorite shone brighter and bigger than any shooting star had ever before. A roar traveled down from the meteorite as it neared and passed overhead. It soon disappeared from her line of sight, but the single stream of fiery light lingered, tainting her vision.

The roar abruptly stopped and Samantha could almost imagine the thud that the impacting meteor must have made. Her eyes were wide as she realized that the meteor had actually made it down to the crust of the planet, but the excitement she felt was dampened as she told herself that she would stay here and not go after it.

How strange it was that the meteor had landed on Whidbey Island of all places, Samantha thought to herself, before turning her attention once more to the stars above. She would fall asleep with the meteorite at the front of her mind, only to dismiss it the following day.

o.0.O.0.o

Sideswipe was beyond simple anger. Anger- that couldn't describe how he felt. He couldn't find any words in the Cybertronian language that sounded angry enough to give his feelings justice. In fact, the only word he found that could fit the size of his anger was in one of the languages the natives on this planet used. Simply to say, Sideswipe was _pissed_.

The leaders of each faction had followed the cube from its launch, and the war seemed to have left the planet with them. Only Shockwave remained to order around a rag-tag troupe of Decepticons to maintain control over what little of Cybertron was habitable. With the battlefront moved there was no surprise to be had when the twins found out that their unit was to be shipped to a local shuttle station.

They were told to monitor the station for any Decepticon, or just plain suspicious, activity in a station deprived of any assets. The work included watching screens that _almost_ seemed to be still images and quick trips around the perimeter hallways that were so full of activity that they were practically ghost towns. As if that wasn't 'thrilling' enough, their unit leader was one of the most tight aft security directors they had ever had… and that _included_ Prowl.

That security director needed a medal.

After several vorns he and his brother had been shipped away to work in some Primus forsaken galaxy because of 'bad behavior'. Sideswipe figured that the overseer had finally had it with his and his brother's attitudes that seemed to rub even those with the most well checked emotions the wrong way… and the security director had to have been tired of the pranks that always seemed to follow him whenever he reprimanded one of the twins. They were assigned to a unit that had been roaming an, until recently, uncharted galaxy for any Decepticons.

As Sideswipe and Sunstreaker arrived at where their new unit was to be, however, they had found not a single pulsing spark. Wrench, the Autobot that had been herding the twins around, had ordered them to remain inside the ship as he went to gather information. Being, of course, the twins, they ignored Wrench's orders and opted to go out and explore for themselves. They were known for being some of the Autobot's best fighters, wouldn't it make much more sense for them to have gone along with him?

Of course, no one could say for sure that if they had gone along they would have saved Wrench's life.

They found him, at least a piece of him, in one of the asteroid holes that dotted the landscape. A helm, painted in Wrench's unmistakable colors of red and green, lay dented and twisted, small slivers of processor-specific metal coating the ground around it.

If they were to have searched around more, the twins were sure that they would find similar results for the unit they had been assigned to.

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe pulled out plasma powered guns. Light and fast, these guns surpassed the utility of any fusion powered guns despite their lack of power, as they suited the high-in-mobility fighting style of the twins.

Only an astro-second after they had pulled out their weapons, the earth began to shake. The twins activated their jet packs, flying over the unsteady ground as it suddenly broke open like an egg. Emerging from the asteroid like a spawn of Unicron and shaking the earth off of itself was a gigantic space worm.

The worm was much larger than any other worm that had been documented, probably thriving because of the predator-free environment of the galaxy. Though the lack of food for any other normal organic creature would be an issue, space worms could feed off of stone for many orns.

Sooner or later though, the worm would need to find a living source to feed off of, but with the diversity of the worm's diet this could easily be rectified. Even Cybertronians were considered food sources; the worm's stomach acids could melt through the toughest alloys, and the worms could somehow leach off the energy that sparks produced.

Though knowing that you were edible was not much of a motivation when the creature that was faced in your direction could crush you regardless, and Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were not ones to test their luck on a worm. Sure, if it was a league of Decepticons, they would've tried, but not when the thing they were facing took down an entire unit of Autobots without obtaining a single scratch.

Unfortunately, the thing could sense where they were heading in flight even without eyes, and as the twins came upon the ship, they could only stare in horror as their transportation was brutally crushed and pierced by the many teeth of the worm. As landing was not an option, they did the only thing they could do and blasted out of the gravitational field of the asteroid, their jet packs thankfully strong enough to accomplish such a task.

Without any other options available to them, the twins were left to wander around the galaxy alone, lost and without any hope of finding their way home.

As time passed things became more complicated when they ran across a Cybertronian of ancient build, trapped in emergency stasis lock. The build of its cosmic form suggested that it was a femme, but without anyone awake to actually answer their questions and a spark signature hidden under layers of radiation, its gender was left unknown.

Without many choices, the two decided to take the Cybertronian with them even though there were no markings on its outer plates that suggested it belonged to any faction.

Sideswipe had attached his extra cables to the supposed femme so that he could carry her without hassle, giving him the ability to command the outer form of the Cybertronian within the parameters set by the Cybertronian's core defense processor. He wouldn't be able to force her out of stasis lock, it was a job only a medic could accomplish. Being only a third of the size of Sideswipe with a scant amount of plating, there thankfully wasn't much extra mass for him to carry.

With only a few cubes of high-grade energon in their subspace, the twins knew that they would sooner or later fall into stasis lock if they did not find an alternate fuel source, though space travel used the least amount of energon apart from stasis lock. With rationing they could survive for three vorns on only their cubes of high-grade, since its potency would allow for a full recharge per sip.

They fell into a routine, their sanity not failing only because they were with each other. A vorn passed before they received a signal.

The signal was faint and primitive, containing only a small bit of information on it… information transcribed in an unfamiliar language. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe both sent the bit to their Language Motherboard, hoping it would be able to decode it, and ended up in a foul mood when it couldn't. The language was unlike any they had heard before, leading them to believe that the origin of the message was from a planet not yet discovered by the Intergalactic Federation.

Though the signal was primitive, it was the only thing the two had to follow. They set their guidance systems to follow the origins of the message, and found that it was near the outer spiral of the galaxy they were trapped in. It was only five orns worth of distance at the speed they were traveling. With any luck they might be able to refuel with the help from the natives, and perhaps contact other members of their fraction.

It was when they were on the fringes of the solar system that they were attacked by two Decepticons. Without much help because of his brother's passenger Sunstreaker took it upon himself to bring the fight to the Decepticons, providing cover for Sideswipe. But then everything fell apart as Sunstreaker was captured by the Decepticons, and with the responsibility of the unknown Cybertronian weighing down his spark Sideswipe went against his need to save his brother and escaped into space, hoping to recover and defeat the Decepticons on the organic planet. He masked his signature on departure, hoping to buy enough time to secure a safe position on the planet.

Of course, that led to him crashing into another vehicle on his entry into the planet's atmosphere, and separated him from the bot he was carrying, his reason for escaping and not saving Sunstreaker. All of this bad luck in a chain, and presto! You received one very pissed off mech.

The one abysmally small event from this massive horror chain of events that he found he could be thankful for was the fact that the heat from his impact managed to burn any vegetation he may have landed on, preventing any from getting stuck in the cracks of his plating. It may have seemed like such a thing would hardly hinder him, but without treatment of any form an annoyance could turn into constant pain. It was an energon sweet in the face of the Unmaking, but it was a sweet nonetheless, and fraggit if he wouldn't allow himself to enjoy it.

Unfolding out of his cosmic form, Sideswipe arose from the wheat field he seemed to have landed in, shaking the dirt from his structure. The field seemed to bend with the hills that continually rose and fell around him. Along its outer edges was a forest, thick evergreen trees creating a small sanctuary. Breaking out of the monotony of trees was a large red structure, and looking back at the dictionary Sideswipe had managed to download before losing his connection to the World Wide Network, he found that the natives called it a barn.

This species used a strange mix of sounds in their many languages. For a moment, Sideswipe pondered over this, before shaking his head, his anger forgotten amidst the musings of his curiosity. For now the language itself was not important. _System update_

_System maintenance check:_

_Spark Chamber- undamaged_

_Core processor- undamaged_

Sideswipe blearily read the Cybertronian symbols that were displayed across his optics as they went over his core functions. He allowed the readings to pass by him quickly, more interested in what wasn't working right.

_Frontal chest plating- undamaged_

_Cerebral Core plating- damaged_

_Internal Communication Processor damaged: Unable to obtain any outward private connections_

_External Communication Processor/Wireless Sensor damaged: Unable to connect to any public network signals._

The mech read over the update with growing dread. It made sense that both processors were offline, they were located in the same area in his cerebral plating where the damage most likely was. He was now virtually inaccessible unless someone spoke to him within audio sensor range. If anyone tried to contact him using an enhanced signal, or if by some unlikely chance there was another bot besides the one he brought on this planet, then he wouldn't have any way of knowing.

There wasn't anything he could do about it now, though. He wasn't a medic, and he didn't have any advanced internal healing systems besides those that any normal Cybertronian was sparked with, and although his could heal all his damage in time, it was time he didn't have.

The mech entered the surrounding woods, using his servos to part the way for him as his optics blared to light his path. He carefully avoided any thick areas of vegetation in fear of it becoming stuck in his peds. Around him he heard the forest life vacating the premises to allow the alien being to pass, but he stretched his sensors beyond that, listening for the sounds of civilization.

His sensitive hearing soon identified the noise of a road far in front of him. The engines of this planet's vehicles seemed to blast loudly and unevenly as they traveled. It took him half a breem to actually arrive at the place where the noise was coming from.

There was a single strip of smooth pavement that stretched far to the left and right, other roads leading off of it, though not as large. The 'cars' that passed did not come very frequently, there were large pauses between groups of them. Sideswipe hid himself behind the branches of the trees, analyzing each car that passed and deciding whether or not the model suited him. He was not as picky as his brother, so when one came that looked acceptable, he took it without complaint. Though one had to wonder what good complaining was going to do when there wasn't even anyone around to hear it.

As soon as he scanned the car, he could feel the changes in his protoform. Metal that had been unused and stored in subspace was brought out on top of his exposed wiring, wielding onto the plates already in place. His chameleon exoskin changed colors as his plating twisted and turned, dying his body silver. He felt his form become more obelisk, taller and with more edges, though his chassis did retain some form of curves.

Sideswipe looked over himself, wanting to see his new form with his own optics. He nodded, pleased with the changes. This planet may have been more primitive, but their vehicles portrayed a sense of elegance that he was sure even his brother would appreciate. His lips pulled down at the thought of his brother, but he quickly changed his thoughts to other things.

It was imperative that he located the Cybertronian that fell onto the planet with him. There was a possibility that the force of impact had jarred the Cybertronian from stasis, but there was also a large chance that she had remained unconscious, blaring her Cybertronian signal for any and all to hear. If the Decepticons located the bot, and if she was indeed a she… It wouldn't be pretty.

However the separation of the two bots was rough, and that, along with the impact had disoriented Sideswipe enough that he had no idea as to what direction to head in. Even so, Sideswipe knew he couldn't delay and so he stepped out onto the road. For the moment there were no cars in either direction. He sent the command to his transformation cog, and he felt as he transformed for the first time into this new form.

No matter what vehicle a Cybertronian would choose, each transformation sequence was different. There was almost a universal excitement amongst Cybertronians for the first transformation into a new form, an eagerness that desperately craved to feel what was only written in the schematics of their programming.

Sideswipe's legs hooked together as their plating began to shift around. His knees locked and his front fell forward. His chest plating parted and his head descended into the opening as the chest plates relocked back into place. Arms folded behind him and interlocked with his legs, the plating sealing together as his body came crashing down onto the pavement on four wheels that emerged from his sides. His back plating twisted and inverted to become the interior of the vehicle formed out of an unusual compound of chemical components his sub-processors created with his nanites, made to appear identical to the organic material used for the native's vehicles. His optics parted and widened, positioning themselves on the two opposing sides on the front of the vehicle before coming online.

It was strange seeing the world from such a low perspective. Normally his chosen vehicles left him sightless, but he could still get by with using his sensor nodes to detect where objects were placed in correlation to his own body. But this new perspective was not unpleasant, it actually felt fascinating.

Sideswipe eased his way forward, feeling every bit of friction against his wheels as they pushed against the paved road. Soon he was speeding along what the humans called a 'highway', though he had no idea why. It was a bit backwards when the road itself was paved on the ground, not levitated above it.

The forest he had left began buzzing once more with the life of the night, and no trace of his presence remained, save for the trail of footprints leading out of a field, emerging from a crater.

o.0.O.0.o

Scientific Notes:

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Cortex Processor Placing Inside the Processor:

Biology: Ratchet

Cycle 502/Solar Cycle 10/Vorn 5471

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That Which is Wrong with Sunstreaker and Sideswipe

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Unfortunately, I do not have the time, nor the memory space, to explain things to such an extent so as to cover all aspects of this title. In fact, I highly doubt that anyone would. Ever. What I can explain –so as to fully cover what you asked of me- is that Sunstreaker and Sideswipe have perhaps the most idiotic processor layout designed by the most moronic, incompetent, troglodyte mech who would no better know an Auditory Cortex Processor from an Auditory Transducer.

A Cybertronian is usually outfitted with two Communication Processors –one for external, one for internal signals- placed perhaps in the most protected area inside what we Medics call the Core Processor, the conjunction of different cortex processors (from here on out to be referred to as cortexes) that control the very basic of programming necessities all Cybertronians have. The Core Processor lies at the base of a Cybertronian's head, giving it the easiest access to the spinal interface. The two Communication Cortexes –alongside the Acoustic Cortex combines to form what we Medics refer to as the Auditory Processor– lies in perhaps the central most part of the head, nestled in the upper center of the Core Processor and covered overtop with the different cortexes the form the Personality Processor of a Cybertronian. In fact, most of our cortexes that receive input congregate in this area, assuring the utmost protection in our ability to take in the outside world.

The Battle Cortex, however, lies on the farthermost backend of select Cybertronians' Core and Personality Processor, as not every Cybertronian is equipped with such a cortex. This cortex, unlike any other, must work congruously with both the Personality Processor and the Core Processor, and as such must have access to both simultaneously. If something were to crush the back of a mech's head with this cortex installed, the Battle Cortex would be the first to go. While a Battle Cortex may be useful in our war against the Decepticons, this cortex is perhaps the least useful out of all the different cortexes that make up the Main Processor of a Cybertronian, and as such it would be of no great cost to lose one.

This is where Sideswipe's processor designer went horribly, horribly wrong. A normal medic would place basic functionality at the utmost importance, but Sunstreaker and Sideswipe's medic considered fighting to be of higher value than to _maintain core functionality_. In place of the Internal and External Communication Cortexes –as removing only one would not provide a large enough area- the 'medic' instead placed the Battle Cortex, so that even when deaf for long range communication, the mechs could still continue fighting.

This excerebrose layout was what caused a communications blackout when Sideswipe was sent into the field, for as his report stated, an attack that came from behind damaged the back of his cerebral plating, where his External and Internal Communication Cortexes lay. When he came into my office for a medical checkup, I had my first opportunity to navigate through Sideswipe's processors –as if I ever wanted the opportunity to know what went on in there. The rustic formatting of his processors makes me question the ability of our recruitment team to follow through on protocol, which clearly states that all those lined for recruitment must have their frames thoroughly inspected, including the mental state of their processors –which I know Sideswipe and Sunstreaker never actually went through- and physical state of their processors, but that is another matter entirely. After a quick check up with Sunstreaker it was found that this format was present in both their processors.

The rudimentary and brutish way of thinking someone designing such a processor layout must have points that the culprit is none other than Starbolt, the medic –and I say that with the loosest of definitions- tasked with outfitting fighters volunteering in the Underground Gladiator Rings of Kaon. The implications this has on the background of Sunstreaker and Sideswipe are none of my concern, however it does explain the resulting layout of their processors, built for fighting rather than coherent thought.

This formatting can be changed, but it will take much effort on my part to even reimagine the layout so that it would fit the unique shape the reformatting changed the inner cerebral plating into and still maintain the unique thought process this formatting gives Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. The reformatting was made when the processors were still easily manipulated, but with the vorns that have passed the processors would reject any order of thought other than what has already been established. Even with the new layout created, there would still be the operation to puzzle out, so that main functions continue through the surgery; and it would be of utmost importance for me to find the time to operate without the constant bombardment of critical Autobots being brought in from the frontlines to be fixed, as the surgery cannot be interrupted. With everything as it is, the priority level of this surgery for both Sunstreaker and Sideswipe is low, too low for me to warrant any attention towards unless Optimus destroys Megatron and all his leading officers in the next cycle.

.

Ratchet,

Head Medical Officer

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Afterthought- I am not entirely sure what you plan to do with this information Prowl, but take from it what you will. I on the other hand had always known that something was wrong with those two, this just proves that my assumption was correct.

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o.0.O.0.o

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**Again, I would like to thank:**

**Ray of Starlight****- For her story 'Twin Times the Fun' which inspired me to write a Sideswipe roadtrip fic.**

**A Midnight Dreary****- For her story 'Til All Are One' and her ideas that will be appearing in later books.**

**Nidia Ceylon****- For her story 'Shattered' which was the whole inspiration for book two and for the use of her ideas in later books.**

**Faecat****- For agreeing to be my Beta and for her wonderful story, 'Science and Fiction', which I believe revolutionized the Transformers fandom.**

_**.**_

_Added into the author's notes at 11/14/2012_

_**Interesting Tidbits:**_

**Since it probably won't come up at all, yes, the primitive signal that Sideswipe received was a transmission from Nasa. I thought it would be rather ironic that the first things the twins received was not the signal Optimus Prime sent out, but rather one sent by us primitive humans. :P**

_**.**_

**And I want to thank anyone out there reading this. Because even if it is only a single person, as long as someone enjoys my written work, I'm happy!**

_**.**_

**-Silvera :)**


	3. Between a Rock and a Hard Place

**... Annnd I'm back. From a, what? Two year unwarranted hiatus? I really do apologize. Though this story is the least followed out of all my stories, it is my favorite for where I plan to lead it. But, my departure hasn't been without any learning. Hopefully you'll see (if you remember), a big improvement from my last chapter.**

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**I have also edited the prologue and beginning chapter, although not much has changed in terms of content. However, since its been so long, if you are still interested I'd suggest reading the previous two chapters before reading this one, so that you actually know what has happened.**

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**I would also like to apologize if any swears used in the beginning of this chapter are actually taboo. I was just looking for a list of swear words in multiple languages... and I found it. If any are completely offensive to any one of you (or just used out of context), please tell me so that I can have it removed. I do not like insulting my readers... I already did that enough with my exodus... Again, I apologize.**

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_Disclaimer: _Transformers _is the intellectual property of Hasbro and the author has no claim to any associated ideas or characters mentions in this fanfiction. All ideas used from other Fanfiction authors are used with their consent and the author has no claim to them in any way or form._

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Starlight Chapter 2:

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

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o.0.O.0.o

Sideswipe was quickly becoming familiar with many terms in the local languages. Though the languages themselves were implanted in his databanks, he had to form his own familiarity through usage… and were they ever being used.

'_Shit. Merde. Kuso. Poqgai.'_

All of these multilingual swears seemed to fit his emotions, and yet somehow still managed to understate his situation. He continued pulling out words from the dictionary he had downloaded, his mind wanting to learn more, and his anger not content with the few he had learned to release his emotions.

'_Hovno. Helvete. Chinga. '_

The first thing he had tried to do as he set off on the highway was to obtain his bearings. Though he had a brief sketch of what latitude and longitude he was heading towards on the world map upon entry, the crash with the air vehicle, the forced separation of the two bots along with the jarring impact scrambled his processors enough to force them to initiate a mandatory reboot. It removed any short term knowledge he had stored in his Temp Processor, but left everything else intact. Unfortunately, all information on his current location had just been accumulated; there was no time for him to store the knowledge into the banks of his more permanent processors before the reboot started. He had to start again, but this time without the help of satellite positioning.

As he had traveled along the road, he felt a light tingling in his most sensitive magnetic positioning node, indicating that there was a polarized force somewhere to his right. Shuffling through the many earthen terminologies, he recognized that the polarity was situated on the metaphorical 'top' of this planet. It seemed that, even without satellite positioning or complicated mathematical equations based on the positioning of constellations, the natives had still found a way to position themselves in close relation to the planet's axis. However, he was still unsure as to what direction the other Cybertronian had fallen in.

A global positioning program run to locate any Cybertronian SMP signals in the nearby vicinity via hacked satellites wouldn't be possible with his damaged processors, he'd have to search manually. He'd at least be able to track his own position, however lacking it was towards helping him in his current situation.

So the true search had begun.

He decided -with nothing else to follow- that he'd travel along the roads, heading as north as the roads would allow. It was helpful to have a reference point without assigning his other processors the menial task of mapping out his current location as he came across it. It would save the processing power that would assuredly become a processor-ache along the way.

He had only traveled a breem along his chosen road when it cut off and the first issue (aside from his already long list), became apparent to him. The road had not stopped merely because construction workers had become lazy, there was an obstacle in the way.

It was a fragging, spit spawned mass of liquid known to the natives on this planet as an ocean.

At first the sight had disturbed him. H2O and Cybertronians were known to react violently, at times suddenly, ending most certainly deadly. The water itself -in its most basic molecular form- wouldn't have had any negative affect on a Cybertronian being, but any chemicals mixed into it would almost assuredly do.

There was a planet a warp away from Cybertron covered primarily in water. The first explorers from Cybertron had entered the liquid without a second thought as to what they might actually be exposing themselves to. The water itself seemed not to affect any Cybertonian negatively, but the muggy residue it left behind did. The residue, mixed with the air of the planet and the rubber of energon tubes would turn into an acidic solution so strong it would melt the energon tubes completely. Many Cybertronians died before a solution was found.

While there was a chance that the ocean did not contain any of these and other deadly properties, it was a chance that Sideswipe would most assuredly not take. He may have been known for he and his brother's rash decisions, but even he knew when to risk and not risk his life… Mostly… Sometimes.

So he grudgingly once again took off, anger brewing at his need to find an alternative solution.

Driving south had proved futile, revealing the same ocean (or one of identical appearance) that had touched the north. Driving east -though also revealed to be surrounded by ocean- had also brought something more helpful to his attention.

He had almost turned around to search for a last possible escape chance when he saw a vehicle approaching from the east. Its lights flared brightly and grew brighter as it approached, trudging through the water. It seemed to park, or dock -Sideswipe wasn't sure- onto the land, the proximity revealing its hollow interior to those who wished to look. As soon at the boat appeared secure, a slur of smaller vehicles drove out, apparently arriving on land safely from what was supposedly the mainland.

Slowly, a group of vehicles aligned and waiting made their way into the interior of the boat. Seeing this, Sideswipe had shot forward, ignoring his rising speed and hoped that he would make it before the boat departed once more.

He had almost made it when a barricade appeared suddenly. Not wanting to cause damage and alert the locals of their unusual visitor, Sideswipe had slammed onto his breaks, stopping just in time to prevent himself from breaking through the metal barrier. Inside, his vents went into overdrive as they tried to clear the heat that has formed at the surprise of his near collision. Though distracted, he still heard a local speaking right next to him. His sensors turned to the male seated inside a booth connected to the barrier.

"Excuse me, sir?"

Forming a haphazardly thrown together human hologram using the generic human form he had downloaded from the web before disconnecting, Sideswipe rolled down his window. He had thought that the human could help him get on board. "Can you remove the barrier so I can make it to the boat?"

"'Da Fu-?" The brunette stopped himself before he could swear in front Sideswipe. He put on a curious face upon seeing the hologram, and averted his eyes as he answered Sideswipes question. "If you'd pay the necessary 7.85, you'd probably be able to make the ferry."

"7.85 of what?"

"Um… Money, dollars, you know. You should know. You're in America." The man had clearly wanted to say something else, but seemed to have successfully repressed the urge. His eyes still wouldn't focus on the hologram.

"_Slag_. Can I pay when I get over? It's an emergency." There, that phrase had always seemed to work for him.

"Ah, no. Everyone needs to pay."

Well, almost always.

"Fraggit." Sideswipe had started to roll up his window as he began to back out, but paused when he heard the man shout back to him, apparently having gathered up the courage to say what he stopped himself from saying earlier.

"Next time, wear clothes. Not everybody wants to see your junk."

Sideswipe didn't even bother replying, he had already shut down his hologram.

The option to head north was gone, south was blocked, and east had led to the closest opportunity, but still ended up being a dead end. The only way he could go now was west, if it wasn't blocked as well.

As he followed upon the main road, it started to curve north. The dread Sideswipe felt grew, but as he passed the point where there should have been ocean the path still continued. For once Sideswipe was happy, it looked as if there might've been a way out of his situation after all.

But Primus had other plans.

The road ahead had become blocked, taped to prevent any from traveling any further. As Sideswipe scanned he detected that the road continued over a gap of land filled with sea, connecting to the raised ground on other side. However, there was a slight issue. Where a logical bridge would have a flat, fully connected road from one side to another, this bridge had a gap of such size it appeared as if Ironhide had used it for target practice.

Even still, Sideswipe would have tried jumping across if it wasn't for the natives that were hustling back and forth over it with their machines. It appeared that this bridge was the only other thing, aside from the ferry, that connected the island to the mainland. It was only logical that the organics try to rebuild and finish it as soon as possible. But because of this, even if he tried, he wouldn't be able to get across without being spotted. Alone on a foreign planet, there was no way in pit that he would reveal himself, especially with how vulnerable he was in his current position.

'_Well… Slag._'

So Sideswipe traveled down south, becoming intimately familiar with the various languages the planet had to offer. He might not recognize if someone insulted him using an idiom unique to their language, but he could certainly serve his own insults out a hundred fold.

Coming into a small town, Sideswipe found an area specifically for vehicles to rest in, or a parking space, as the natives called them. He pulled into the designated area and promptly shut down his main systems, initiating a recharge. Before his higher processing power shut down though, his thoughts once more traveled to the ocean.

If only it wasn't for that pit spawned, Primus forsaken, fragged up mass of liquid blocking his only way forward.

'_Frag._'

o.0.O.0.o

Samantha awoke that morning to thin traces of dew dotting her body. She became embarrassed when she realized that she had fallen asleep outside when she had every intention to return to the house that early morning. She just hoped that her caretaker wasn't upset when she found that Samantha was missing from her room.

The blonde cringed as she thought of how fretful her caretaker was prone to being. She doted over her with the same intensity as if she were ten. The thought of her caretaker was more than enough motivation for her to enter the house immediately.

The stone tiles on her open porch were cold, and the sunlight hadn't had time to warm the air to the appropriate temperature for someone covered in dew. She raced up the front porch and only slightly hesitated as her hand rested on the handle. She steadied herself with a quick breath before opening the glass door. She had only stepped two feet into the house when she heard her name being called out.

"Samantha!"

She was in trouble.

"Yes..." she hesitated in answering, "Helena?"

She heard the fall of heavy footsteps come closer as the woman those footsteps belonged to drew nearer. Each step spelled doom for the teenager. As the caretaker finally came around the corner to enter the kitchen, she lifted her arms as if to hug Samantha.

"There you are, sweet-pea!" Helena squealed, bringing her flabby speckled arms around her ward. "You had my heart beating out of my chest as if it was a cock in a cage with a coyote. But no matter, you're here safe, and that's all that counts!"

The burly brunette grabbed Samantha's hair as she felt something wet press against the skin of her arms. "And you're soaked in dew!" She clicked her tongue making a sharp '_tsk'_ noise. "What would your parents say?"

Samantha awkwardly brought her arms around the robust woman to hug her back. "Sorry to worry you." She tried to slip out of Helena's arms as she finished her apology, but her caretaker held on tightly with one arm.

"You're helping."

Samantha blinked as her newly awakened brain processed this. "Excuse me?"

"I know you heard me clearly girl." The caretaker switched back from her worried self to her commanding persona as she removed her arms from around the teen. "You made me worry, thus you'll have to work just as hard as me for the day."

"B-but I have to go to work today!"

Helena frowned and glared at her, her forehead set with wrinkles as she furrowed her eyebrows. "Then you'd better get started."

It was no use arguing. There was no point in trying to compromise with a brick wall, and the mood Helena was in could very well be described as just that.

"Right then." Without wanting any further delays, Samantha went directly to the hallway utility closet and pulled out a mop and bucket that had clearly been used often. "I'll do the floors!"

"Fine by me!" Helena called back from the kitchen. "I'll see to it that you get breakfast!"

"Okay!" Samantha responded, and she smiled. Even when annoyed at her, Helena still saw that all her needs were taken care of.

Samantha walked to the bathroom, placed the bucket under the shower spout, and began to fill it up. As it was filling, she grabbed a nearby hairband and wrapped her hair in a ponytail, prepping herself for the work.

This was not how she wanted to start her day.

o.0.O.0.o

"Breakfast's ready, dear!" Helena called out to Samantha. She had just finished cooking the last pancake, and she slid it from the stainless steel pan onto the pile. She placed both the pan and a plastic bowl that still had a thin layer of batter residue into the kitchen sink, saving the work for later.

"'Kay!" Samantha called back to Helena, she was clearly more focused on her work at that moment.

Helena sighed and shook her head. No matter how much Samantha grew up, she would always consider her a child. She had been looking after the girl since she was five. Samantha's parents, Elinor and John, had wanted a caretaker to look after her so that they could travel to Hawaii for their seventh wedding anniversary. Samantha had liked her so much that after the vacation John had finally given in to Samantha's persistence and Helena was given permanent residence on the Ballé property.

"Right, let's eat!" Samantha smiled as she walked through the kitchen archway, spotting the meal on the oak kitchen table.

Both women took a seat opposite the other, ignoring how the chairs seemed to creak against the flooring. Samantha quickly set two pancakes down on her plate while Helena took the remote and turned on the kitchen television.

The table was quite as Samantha indulged herself in pancakes and the caretaker flipped through the channels to see if she could spot anything of interest. Her eyes widened as she came upon a particular news channel. "Samantha, look at this!" She turned up the volume.

"_-happened earlier this morning._" Was the first line Samantha could make out. The scene that had been focusing on the news anchor suddenly switched and the screen focused on a large expanse of black water, with spots of flame bursting from a torn metal craft centered on the screen.

"_What we know is that at 12:47 am, fight 53 from Anchorage, Alaska to Seattle, Washington collided with an object that is as of now unidentified. The collision caused the craft to crash into the Puget Sound. Coast Guards witnessed the crash and arrived at the site shortly after." _The scene cut away to the news reporter standing amidst a boat, the scene reflected brightly from the light of the sun. One could only speculate that the boat was positioned where the plane had crashed.

"_Twenty three people, including the pilot, were pulled from the wreckage. Five people: a crew member and four passengers, have not yet been found, and are presumed to have gone down with the craft. Back to you Tim._"

The scene cut again, this time heading all the way back to the anchor. "_Our prayers go out to the family members of the missing passengers and crew member. In other news-_"

The volume of the TV turned down again and Helena set the remote back onto the table. "I hope the families of the five missing are alright."

"Me too." Samantha absently replied. She had become distracted when she learned the time of the crash. It was around that time when she saw the meteorite, and it was probably the 'unknown object' that the news reporter had been talking about. She hadn't known that it had caused a plane to crash. She opened her mouth once more and said with more sincerity, "I hope so too."

o.0.O.0.o

_Ringgggg!_

"Alright class, settle down!"

It was crowded in the Tranquility High School classroom as sixth period began, and it was all Sam could do to push his way through the rowdy class to his seat. Hardly anyone gave him a second glance at the faint scars and bruises that now marked his face, curtsy of Megatron, and Sam was never more thankful for being socially invisible.

Of course, his classmate's indifference changed as soon as he sat down and talked to Mikaela, the rumors of them being seen together apparently hadn't spread to their classmates in History yet. Voices of curiosity arose through the class and though they successfully kept their chatter away from the teacher, whispering did little to hide their comments from the two who were the focus of their topic.

"_What's the dork doing, talking to Mikaela?_"

"_Do you think they're together?_"

"_Of course not! She's still Trent's girl._"

Sam heard the comments whispered around the room, but he paid them no heed. His attention was diverted from Mikaela to Trent, who was eying them both. The whispers soon stopped as the history teacher began his lesson, but Trent's focus continually shifted between Mikaela and Sam, he ignored the teacher completely.

'_Not as if listening would help Trent with his grades._' Sam thought, smirking a little.

Mikaela raised her eyebrow at his smirk, but otherwise let it be. She would ask him after class.

It was a bleary fifty five minutes, history remaining as boring as it ever was. For a class that had to end in only a couple days, the Teacher sure seemed to have a lot to talk about. Honestly, how much more wind could you blow when even finals were over?

Sam's eyes glanced at the clock as it hit 3:25, already up and out of his seat as the bell announced the end of school. He was down the bleachers and into the hall before anyone could stop him, destination already set.

He dodged the hormonal teenager couple who were giving each other a tongue bath in the hall, ducked underneath someone's locker door as they opened it without regards to those around them, and briskly walked straight for his locker on the other side of the building.

His parents wouldn't pick him up, although they had insisted. Instead he planned on taking his bike to the outskirts of the city to spend some time with Mikaela and Bumblebee. He had a feeling that his dad knew about his meeting with Bumblebee, but had understood the situation better than mom. His dad was probably the reason why it had been easier to convince his parents to let him take his bike to and from school.

He went up to his assigned locker and shook the handle. The school had been issued reused lockers, so although the rooms looked new, the hall itself seemed more natural looking in a rundown middle school. Even the locks, the most important thing on a _lock_er, had rusted over. One could open their locker without ever knowing their combination.

"Hey, Witkickity."

Sam froze. The voice that had spoken those words was very familiar to Sam, and the owner could only mean trouble. He slowly turned his body around, trying to appear calm to the person who summoned him.

He blinked once as he assessed his aggressor, and a memory of being chased by Megatron and other Decepticons ran through his mind. Sam's eyes hardened as the memories passed him and he straightened his back. "Trent."

Trent appeared startled by Sam's confrontation, and he backed up a step, his face betraying his confusion.

"Hey, the dweeb grew a spine!" Laughed a boy to his right. Sam turned to spot one of Trent's football buddies leaning against a locker, his arms crossed in front of him without care. "Guess he'll be more fun to toy with."

Trent smirked at this and turned his attention back to Sam who was darting his eyes to look for a quick exit. "Hey, wuss, in front of you." The jock called to get his attention, which Sam granted. "I hear you're on speaking terms with my girl. Who gave you permission?"

"Who said she needed permission to speak to someone?" Sam spoke up, feeling protective over Mikaela.

Trent didn't grant his question an immediate answer. He grabbed Sam's shoulder and pinned him against his locker. The students in the hall who saw this dashed away from the football player out for blood.

Sam felt his already bruised shoulders being squeezed under pressure, and he ground his teeth in pain, but he would not do Trent the favor of begging.

"Listen, Whitmicky, she's my girl." Trent leaned and whispered in Sam's ear. "If you even come within five feet of her, I will make sure to pound you to such a pulp even your parents won't recognize your body."

"Yeah?" Sam sputtered.

"Yeah." Trent pushed him harshly against the locker one more time before letting him go.

Sam coughed as he rose to his feet. He glared at Trent's retreating back, and his anger clouded over his judgment, but he let out a calming breath, letting his brain do the battling for him. "I'm not somebody you should mess with."

Trent stopped and turned around, mirth in his eyes. "Oh, and what are you gonna' do about it? Call your daddy? Head of the Neighborhood Watch Committee?"

Sam stood taller, images of a giant metal monster that _he_ had taken down in his mind, egging him on. "I have friends in high places."

"Yeah? Like your tree climbing buddy? He didn't seem to climb very high to me." Trent retorted.

Sam smirked. It was true, the distance between him and Trent probably helped give him courage, but he was sure he had gained some from the battle. Besides, it wasn't as if he was a complete coward to begin with. "It's just a warning. I'm sure Mikaela would back me up."

Perhaps overconfidence would be a better term.

Trent came rearing back, clenching his fists. He stood next to Sam, clearly showing his dominance in height over the boy by tilting his head back so that Sam was only visible below his nose. "Like she could ever be with a guy like you. You know, I'm feeling nice today, so for now I'll give you a warning." Trent cocked his fist back, and brought it rearing forward. It landed right on Sam's chest, pushing him back against his locker, the dial of the lock grinding into his shoulder blade.

Then the fist was gone, and Trent was exiting the scene in the hallway before any teacher could arrive. The other that had hung alongside Trent had himself fled, heading in the opposite direction.

Sam fell to the floor with his eyes clenched shut, gritting his teeth in pain. '_Only pain. Only pain._' He repeated to himself like a mantra. He knew he had had worse, but his body was still suffering from bruises caused by the battle, and the roughhousing he had just received caused the pain to resurface. Thoughts bounded back and forth through his mind.

He was sick of Trent.

He was sick of being pushed around. He was sick of being weak. He was sick of people picking on him. He was sick of being ignored. But most of all, he was sick at his own physical weakness, his inability to retaliate with any force. It was time to change that.

o.0.O.0.o

It was summertime, so the air was warm and tinted with freshness. The mixture of humidity and the growth of vegetation created an atmosphere in the Washington air quite unlike anything else. The citizens of Oak Harbor were lucky enough to have the melodic tones of the ocean accompany this encore of sensory input; it was truly peaceful.

The sun was setting and twilight caused long dark patches of shadows to fall, casting that not in shadow instead in a golden light. Since it was summertime, the life of the sun had extended; it was already eight o'clock by the time the sun began to die along the horizon.

One such building lit up in gold was a small convenience store sandwiched between a pawn shop and an Italian restaurant called 'Enricos'. Currently the door was opening, spitting out of the depths of the shop a blonde. Before she stepped fully out, though, she called back to someone inside.

"Night, Debbie!"

There was clattering as if someone was rearranging items, before there was a call back. "See you later, Pompom."

Samantha smiled as her boss called out her nickname. She had remembered when she had dared complain about it. Her boss may have been only a year older, but she had said in her rough, smoker voice that; "Even if I was a day older, I can still call you by whatever damn nickname I want to, got it?" That had been a particularity bad day of service, and Debbie had been showing signs of stress. Yet at that comment the two couldn't help but burst out in laughter.

Samantha may have only one more year of school left, but Debbie had graduated two years before. Her boss's parents owned the convenience store worthy of being an official chain, but they had hired Debbie as manager as soon as she had graduated.

The shop had been running in their family for three generations now, and Debbie's mother and father had started their own business. Debbie being made manager had filled two purposes: it gave her a well-paying job, and it allowed her parents to focus all their attention on their quickly blooming business.

Samantha traveled along the path to get to her car, a white Chevy Cavalier that she had parked in the town library parking lot, near the peninsula. She normally traveled the long route along the ocean edge, but today she wanted to go home quickly and meet up again with Helena. They planned to have a picnic on the beach tonight for dinner, and it was something Samantha always looked forward to.

So instead of taking her usual route, she pointed her feet inland, not knowing how that simple decision would change her life.

As she rounded the block, a flash of silver caught Samantha's eye. Tilting her head up, her eyes opened in surprise at what was in front of her.

She couldn't identify the exact model, but she knew it was a Chevrolet Corvette. It shined as bright as a perfectly new car. It was sitting idle next to the sidewalk, and looked for all purposes asleep.

Not for long, she thought as she noticed two men near the car, obviously trying to get in. They must have been the owners, though they looked a bit young and ragged. They were probably the sons of one of the rich folk that lived on the island.

The two were arguing with each other, she noted as she walked closer. One seemed to have something metal in their hands that the other was trying to grab, though whatever was in their hands couldn't have been the key, it was too long and fat to be so. As she walked closer, she realized what it was.

Once, when she had locked herself out of her car on the mainland, she had called AAA. They had come in ten minutes, thankfully the closest one with time on their hands was not far. She had thought that the workers were issued with lock picks like the ones James Bond used. She was sad to find she was mistaken.

The worker had pulled out a long, flat hook. He lifted the rubber lining the bottom of her car window and slipped the hook down the metal of her door. After a few seconds of searching, he had found what he was looking for and had pulled the hook up. She had never been so glad to hear the magical click of her car lock before.

These teens had no work shirts on, meaning that they weren't workers told to open the car door for another. They wanted to help themselves to a new car, using the car lock pick that they were fighting over.

Samantha wanted to avoid confrontation as much as the next person, but she hated thieves. She felt a bit of courage well within her as she mentally prepared herself for what she was about to do.

Quietly, she reached into her purse and grabbed her only weapon, a pepper spray in the convincing shape of a revolver. Clutching the handle and putting her finger around the trigger, which would only release a puff of pepper spray in the air, she marched up to the two boys.

o.0.O.0.o

_Power: Online._

_Starting up..._

_Processors fully online._

Sideswipe felt as his core processors rebooted and uploaded, doing a standard system maintenance check. He felt as all his sensor nodes attached to his outside panels awoke, revealing a little more of the world with each one that came online.

He opened his thermal sensors, confused as to what woke him out of recharge. There was always a part of a mech that stayed awake as a defense protocol, made to awaken the full consciousness of the Cybertronian if a certain parameter is breached. Of course, a competent medic could override any functioning safety net, so it was only useful when dealing with processor-less opponents that would try to take advantage of what they thought was an easy opponent, or when around organics who couldn't keep their hands to themselves. Seeing as he was at least a planetary day away from any Decepticons when he landed, Sideswipe presumed that it was the latter.

Sure enough, as soon as the scans came back, Sideswipe was notified of an organic trying to access his interior with a flat piece of metal. He would've laughed at the organics attempt if not for his goal at remaining discreet. At best, the human's attempt was a mild irritation.

"Hey, you two, stop it!"

Sideswipes sensors jumped at this sudden input, he had not even noticed the third organic ten human feet away. As he briefly scanned it, he was surprised to find that it was different than the two next to him, mostly in it's round upper half of it's chest. It must have been the other gender of this species, what they called a female. The gender seemed to be equivalent to a Cybertronian femme from what Sideswipe looked up on the dictionary he had downloaded. They were both the specie's carrier, and they were both physically weaker and prone to emotional outbursts.

"That's not your car, is it?"

Sideswipe watched as the female came forward, deciding that he wanted to sit back and watch how the scene played out.

"So what if it isn't, bitch? What are you gonna do about it?" The one currently in possession of the metal hook spoke up.

"This." The femme lifted her right hand, and Sideswipe scanned it, confused. It appeared to be metal with a high concentration of some chemicals in an air-tight container. What confused Sideswipe was the fact that the chemicals didn't seem mortally dangerous according to his searches, yet the two would-be thieves were backing away in fear.

"H-hey, we want nothin' of that," the one who had not spoken until now decided to give his own input.

"Then leave." The femme's voice appeared cold. Sideswipe noticed it was slightly shaking, but it was so faint in her tone that the two male organics wouldn't have been able to sense it. Her heart rate appeared to rise alongside it. He supposed it might have been the result of nervousness. It occurred to the mech that the femme was making a ruse. Those chemicals in the metallic object may have been harmless to the skin, but the two males didn't know this.

Yet knowing this only caused more confusion for the mech. Why would a female risk getting injured for him, especially when she thought he was an inanimate object?

"Okay, okay. We don't want any trouble." The males held up their hands, possibly to look more submissive. They backed away until they were at the corner of the block, then turned and ran off.

The femme seemed to sag as they went out of sight. She walked over to Sideswipe and patted his hood. She mumbled under her breath, but Sideswipe heard it as if she spoke out loud. "Should've called the cops."

Utilizing the dictionary once again, he found that 'cop' meant Police Officer, and further searching showed that these 'cops' were the governmental force that was designated to protect law abiding citizens. He was cut out of his thoughts as he felt the femme walking away.

She had peaked his interests. She had helped him, even if he was in no actual danger, at a risk of getting injured. No matter what species you were, you had to have a fair amount of courage to do that.

Sideswipe's mind went back to the night before, to the money that was required to board a boat to the mainland. With this though, the last puzzle piece clicked.

She could help him.

He checked for heat signatures around his person, and found no one but the female who was now in a parking lot entering a vehicle of her own in the nearby vicinity. Even the thieves seemed to have run far away. He started his hologram generator –this time careful to provide the clothes that the man had told him to wear- and turned on his main motor functions.

He couldn't address her in this populated city without being spotted, so he would follow her with hopes of finding a secluded spot to corner her in. If she could get him to the mainland, then he could let her go back and they would never run into each other again. It was perfect.

So as a white Chevrolet pulled out of the local library parking lot, a silver Chevrolet Corvette C3R Stingray pulled into line behind it, following it just out of sight.

o.0.O.0.o

It was eleven when Samantha went outside to stargaze. The night air was fresh and cool, and the night's dinner was sitting in her stomach comfortably. Her caretaker had fallen asleep at ten, which Samantha was glad for. She had wanted time alone to herself.

The evening's events were still fresh in her mind, overflowing all other areas of thought.

She couldn't believe she had faced them. In the light of the sun, she had felt invincible, but she regretted it as soon as she had called out to them. She had thought she was being brave, but now that she thought back on it outside of the situation, she was being stupid. It could have turned out very differently. She could have been attacked, or worse. Samantha shuddered and changed her train of thought; she didn't want her thoughts to travel down that avenue.

She had no idea what she was thinking. It would have been better if she had contacted the police, then they would've been arrested. But Samantha shook her head, immediately disagreeing with her previous thought. Sure, they were rude, sure, they were trying to steal a car that cost more than her yearly salary, but they were just teens, the same age as her, if not a bit younger.

She could tell from their posture that they were joking around, they probably didn't even intend to keep the car. Still, if they had stolen it, they would've gone to juvie… or jail, depending on their age.

Yet it shouldn't have mattered. They were thieves, plain and simple. It wasn't right to take something that you had not worked for. Perhaps it had been stupid of her, but since everything had turned out okay, it didn't seem right to doubt her choice. What was done was done, and everything had turned out fine... even if she had ended up putting herself at risk.

Samantha sighed. This was too much thinking to do at this time of night! At least this day had been more interesting, she proposed to herself, than most of her life.

It wasn't the most interesting though. Nothing probably would ever topple that day; the day that changed her life. Samantha fingered a scar along her arm. It was one of many that would always be a permanent reminder to her.

Her mouth curved downward, but she shook herself. Not tonight, she wouldn't think of it tonight.

Samantha looked upward towards the sky once again.

She didn't know that there was a being that belonged to a world contained in one of the galaxies above nearby. She didn't know he was parked just out of view of the house, planning on approaching her because of her acts that evening, waiting only because he did not want to reveal himself to Helena. But she did spot the two meteors that fell out of the sky, one landing across the waters on the Washington peninsula and one landing...

...Right in her backyard.

o.0.O.0.o

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**Again, I would like to thank:**

**Ray of Starlight****- For her story 'Twin Times the Fun' which inspired me to write a Sideswipe roadtrip fic.**

**A Midnight Dreary****- For her story 'Til All Are One' and her ideas that will be appearing in later books.**

**Nidia Ceylon****- For her story 'Shattered' which was the whole inspiration for book two and for the use of her ideas in later books.**

**Faecat****- For her wonderful story, 'Science and Fiction', which I believe revolutionized the Transformers fandom.**

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**And that folks is the opening curtain to my official comeback! If there is anything wrong, either grammatically or story wise, don't be afraid to critique me in a review or PM!**

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**And again, thank you all for your patience, and your willingness to give this story another chance. Please, if you see me derailing once more, don't be afraid to PM me and complain about how I have no willpower at all. Kick my butt in gear, if you will.**

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**~ Silvera**


	4. Raining Down Like Balls of Fire

**I did it, I did it, oh yeah yeah yeah. No reading here tonight, no reading here tonight, no no no reading here tonight you're on a di-et! :D**

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**Not really, but I'm just so happy that I got this chapter up and out! In the words of Steve (the monkey) "Excited! Excited!" And now you guys will get to see my love for quoting. It's also really late here and I have to get up early 'today' (since it's morning) but what internet junkie doesn't do this?**

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**From my question in the previous chapter, I have come up with a solution. I am going to post scientific notes down at the bottom of each chapter to add some tidbits, and perhaps even hint at future content. I have added one at the end of this chapter, and I have also added a note at the end of the prologue. The First and Second chapter still need their own notes, but I'll update you guys when that content is added. I'm not sure if anyone is interested, but if you have a minute or two of time to kill, why not read it?**

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**Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this chapter! Its good to be posting again.**

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_Disclaimer: _Transformers _is the intellectual property of Hasbro and the author has no claim to any associated ideas or characters mentions in this fanfiction. All ideas used from other Fanfiction authors are used with their consent and the author has no claim to them in any way or form._

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Starlight Chapter 3:

Raining Down Like Balls of Fire

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o.0.O.0.o

Thirty miles northwest outside the outskirts of Mission City, Nevada, a previously abandoned military base was being reformatted to suit the needs of the planet's most recent extraterrestrial visitors. There were enough hillsides composed of rock and dirt to make anyone's eyes bleed from the monotony, but they did prove useful in hiding the base from the curious eyes of any traveler wandering away from the interstate twenty-two miles away.

There weren't many military personnel stationed on the base, for everyone there had to have previous knowledge of the aliens, which limited the pickings to two groups: ex-sector seven agents, and the soldiers who fought in the battle for Mission City. However, despite the diminished amount of human life the number of humans still far exceeded the number of extraterrestrials on the base.

The aliens were known on legal forms as Autonomous Robotic Organisms, but everyone on base upon meeting the robots were prompted to either call them Cybertronians or Autobots. Despite their frighteningly large size and their near-mystical cybernetic technology, most soldiers saw the Cybertronians as equals. Their comradeship formed when taking up arms together, and solidified after the battle. After all, it would be hard to question their state of sentience when the soldiers saw for themselves how mortal the Cybertronians were, and how they were just as prone to feelings of loss.

There were three Autobots stationed on the base until further notice: Ratchet, Ironhide, and Optimus Prime. They were technically given free roam of the surrounding government grounds, but tension between the government bureaucrats and Autobots remained high until an official treaty could be agreed upon. Although they had signed that off as the main excuse, Optimus had reason to believe that the human government was just biding its time so as to review over the content Sector 7 had managed to attain from Megatron. The results would assuredly affect the conditions of the treaty, but in a positive or negative manner Optimus was still unsure of.

Bumblebee was the only Autobot that could come and go off base as he pleased. In a way, he was an example of just how much the humans already trusted them, but he was also an example of how far they were willing to go to sate their mistrust. He was required to wear a tracker wherever he went, and it stayed attuned to his unique E.M. signal to insure that it would not be taken off. In addition to the tracker his weapons had to be removed, and his structure examined thoroughly by human electricians and mechanics to ensure that not a weapon was missed. Bumblebee went through the procedure with a surprising amount dignity even though the humans had examined and reexamined parts that were considered off limits in Cybertronian culture. He had gone through the invasive procedure only for the sake of his ward.

Left without any orders, Ironhide had set up a shooting range full of immobile targets, and had manually removed his auto-targeting system to make it marginally interesting. He had planned to practice alone, but a few humans had stopped by and had watched with curiosity. Reports varied on how it had happened, but Ironhide was soon discussing human weapon systems with the soldiers.

Upon being shown the facility, Ratchet had immediately set aside a large hanger as a temporary medical base. He had asked grudgingly for permission to remove the human's stored equipment, and when given it cleared the mess out without help from the humans. He then repaired Bumblebee's legs with metal stripped off a Decepticon corpse before shoving the scout back outside and cleaning the hanger to better fit his standards.

Optimus had been the only one constantly kept busy by others. Aside from the many conferences discussing the circumstances of the treaty between humans and Autobots, Optimus had been given many different forms to read over, answer and sign detailing the technologies they would share with humans and the conditions of their stay on earth. Many forms reiterated over previously addressed topics only with tighter legal jargon to prevent any loopholes that might be exploited. It seemed that, no matter where you traveled in the universe, legal matters always induced a processor ache.

At any other time Optimus could easily be found in what has now been designated as his office, but at the moment he was as far away from any legal forms as he could possibly be. On the other end of the base there was a room completely vacant save for one thing. This room was treated with the utmost honor and anyone inside held a respectful silence, for inside the room was a memorial.

On the wall at the far end, a mech could be viewed. His silver metal plating was polished to the point that it reflected every single snippet of light that shown upon it. His smooth glass visor hid behind it optics that in life shown with the purest blue, but were now forever entombed as an unlit gray. His frame held none of the scarring he had carried in life: none save for the faint wield mark wrapped around his middle. The mech's structure was held upright by strong supporting magnetics embedded in the walls of the structure he was entombed in. A glass dome encased his front, revealing for the world to see his faceplates held in his signature charismatic smirk.

Optimus stood overlooking the memorial, holding himself upright and firm as if one slight tilt of posture would topple the world from his shoulders. Even away from judgmental eyes the young Prime held himself with nobility and honor, though that illusion would shatter for those who saw his optics, dim in his sadness.

"Jazz, my old friend, if only you had lived, you would have witnessed the beginning of the end to this extra-galactic wide war."

After Ratchet had finished fixing Bumblebee and organizing his self-designated med bay, without a single thought to rest he had immediately set to work on a Captis Box for Jazz. Though his supplies and tools were limited he was able to gather enough raw materials with the help of humans to begin construction on the box.

The humans had been surprisingly compliant towards Ratchet's request despite the lack of trust their government had for the Cybertronian species. When questioned why, the humans who had given them materials had responded that everyone, regardless of species, should have the simple right of honoring those who had fallen in battle.

Perhaps their species were even more alike than they had originally thought.

After obtaining his supplies, Ratchet worked for two joors refining the iron he had received so that it was capable of withstanding the tests of time. He had completed the rest of the box in under a cycle, and it had only taken another joor for him to piece together Jazz's body and repair any obvious cosmetic damage. The smaller marks and scars on his plating would be left alone so that all who looked upon him would know of the fierce battle he took part in before his death.

Jazz's form had never changed throughout the war. Though he had obtained numerous battle scars and lost multiple sets of limbs he had always chosen to stay with his lithe and lightly plated form for his style involved more fluidity than those of other bots. Other bots changed their form constantly over the era of war to suit what was needed when battlefronts lacked troops, but Jazz had insisted that there was always a need for intelligence gathered through infiltration.

Jazz had been involved in the conflict with Megatron even before the war. He had knowledge of Megatron's ambitions back when the Council still considered Cybertron to be in its golden age, despite the reports of slavery and underground gladiator rings that had filled up their forms daily. Jazz had always been in Special Ops, exploring where all else dared not to tread, finding a trail to follow when others considered it a dead end, eyes open to the imperfections of Cybertron that all other mechs turned a blind eye to, including those with the highest authority. He knew what was happening deep down in Cybertron's core even before Megatron had lead the first riot, and he was the first to suggest ways of preventing a civil war on Cybertron, but in those orns no one had listened.

By the end of four vorns not a single council member had survived.

So lost in thought was he that Optimus did not sense as the Hanger doors opened, Ratchet entering from the other side. However, he did hear the faint call of his name, and turned towards the call. "Yes, Ratchet."

"There's a situation."

Optimus narrowed his eyes in thought. "What is the issue? Has another problem arisen concerning the circumstances of our treaty?"

"No Optimus." For the first time in several cycles, Ratchet's face plates curved upward in a smile. "We have Autobots inbound."

Optimus turned to face Ratchet, giving him his full attention. "I assume this means that your Teletraan prototype is operational?"

Ratchet gave a slight nod of his head, "With only the most basic of functions, but yes, it is operational."

"Who is making landfall?"

"Prowl and Wheeljack."

Wheeljack would be a needed addition on the team. With his engineering knowledge and scientific background he could both help Ratchet in repairs and begin development on methods that would help the Autobots adapt to living on Earth. Already questions of re-energizing without natural sources of energon were being posed -Ratchet being the spokesperson for said concerns- but with Wheeljack on the case the problem would hopefully be solved quickly.

Prowl was also a well welcomed boon to the team. His knowledge and skills in the heavier matters of political relations would be necessary in the times to come. Optimus could not help but feel relieved at Prowl's timing; though the addition of two more Cybertronians would complicate the works of a treaty, Prowl's skills would tip the scales in their favor.

"I assume that you'll send me the report Prowl will have no doubt filled for us?"

"It's waiting on a datapad in your office."

"And the humans?"

Ratchet frowned, whether from the circumstances of having to depend on an organic species or from the answer he was to give Optimus could not tell, though concerning Ratchet both probably played a role of equal importance. "They have been informed, and they are certainly not pleased. They have demanded a conference call, and are already waiting for you."

Optimus raised his head and looked forward, holding his shoulders square. The sooner they arranged an agreement with the humans, the sooner Prowl and Wheeljack would be allowed to land.

"Let's not keep them waiting then."

o.0.O.0.o

The ground shook as if it was falling apart and fountains of dirt sprayed into the air from the point of impact. The tremors caused Samantha to fall ungracefully on her behind, only saving her head from getting hit by quickly placing her arms behind her. Dirt rained down on her and she closed her eyes and mouth that had dropped open from shock. Her arms trembled in fear and threatened to collapse, bringing the rest of her body down with them.

When the sound of falling dirt disappeared, she opened her eyes once more and forced herself to rise, ignoring the shake in her legs. She turned her head and spit out the few pieces of dirt that had managed to make their way into her mouth. Mounds of dirt obscured her view of the crash site. If the meteor had fallen thirty feet closer she would have been buried alive.

Believing that the danger had passed, Samantha garnered up her courage and approached the impact site, her curiosity getting the better of her. Her ears still rang from the crash, but she ignored the fact that she was for the moment impaired.

The dirt the mounds' consisted of was soft and malleable in her hands. It was surprisingly cool, for it must have absorbed little heat from the meteor before quickly cooling off. She ignored the way the dirt gathered under her fingernails and stained her clothes as she pulled herself up to the top and peered down.

Inside the crater lay the meteor, completely unlike anything she was expecting. Instead of a chunk of rock from space, this meteor was formed out of refined metal and clearly made by a living being. Its form was burned from reentry, and covered with dirt, but Samantha thought that she spotted a hint of purple, of all colors. The metal twisted and turned, but never quite seemed to form a single solid shell. Instead, the metal was split into different pieces that connected and interlocked, leaving space in-between different pieces to expose the workings of the interior. Peering closely, for a moment Samantha thought she caught a glimpse of inner mechanics, but that glimpse was gone just as quickly.

Her mind immediately assumed that the meteor was a satellite despite the fact that the impact hardly seemed to damage its completely alien form. She couldn't bear to think of the implications if she allowed herself to realize the truth. But the illusion she started to build in her mind shattered with the force of a two-ton rock thrown as supersonic speeds.

The metal plates the meteor consisted of began moving and shifting. The movement startled her so much she pushed herself off the dirt hill, falling backwards and toppling painfully onto her back, knocking the wind out of her. Despite the fact that her eyes faced the sky and her body lay on the other side of the dirt mound, she could still see the meteor, because its form was rising over the mounds of earth, changing its shape into a form very familiar to her.

The meteor's form was becoming humanoid.

Samantha didn't even have the time to feel the slightest bit of awe at how precise and intricate the movement of the metal plating and mechanics were as the machine morphed into something so strange, and yet so familiar. She could only feel sheer terror as a face fully formed 25 feet above her and deep, blood red eyes peered down at her.

All higher thought departed and Samantha let out a blood curdling scream.

The beast let out an electronic noise that was both primordial and utterly alien, and the metal plates on its face that its mouth seemed to consist of shifted around as if articulating the noise, finally settling down to form a frown. It lifted up one of its long legs that had appeared with the morph and brought the foot hovering over the still-screaming Samantha.

She didn't even have the sense to move.

The foot was brought down quickly with little force, and the screaming that had lasted for so long was abruptly silenced.

o.0.O.0.o

Sideswipe was bored out of his processor. He had been waiting for the perfect chance to approach the organic for so long that his processor had begun to loop over the same thoughts. His subprograms had halted his motor functions and were turning off bits of his processors one by one, slowly initiating a recharge. His awareness of the organic had disappeared the moment his subprograms had switched off his heat sensors, but he was so far gone that he hardly even noticed.

Then he became aware of a fact that he had been ignoring since he landed.

The feeling of being startled jumped across the bond, and heightened to the point where all Sideswipe's sensors were brought online as his processors overclocked, searching for what had caused his scare. The fans attached to the radiators of his liquid cooling systems tripled in speed as the water grew hotter and hotter.

When the pain hit, he could do nothing to protect himself.

Sideswipe attempted to curl in on himself, yet in his alt-form he only managed to tighten his plating together to the point where it brought pain, but he couldn't even feel that slight bit of discomfort. The pain of his twin was overpowering all senses. His spark couldn't even distinguish between the two of them anymore.

The pain had no direct origin. It was everywhere, encompassing everything: his body, his mind, his spark. Panic shot through the pain; they couldn't dampen the bond.

Just as abruptly as it had started, it ended. A bout of exhaustion prevented Sideswipe from acting as he felt a barrier erected between his and his brother's sparks, leaving only a void. Sideswipe's spark reached out for his brother, only to end up in pain as his spark attempted to stretch further than it could reach.

Then the earth trembled and shook his alt-form, and his mind was jolted back into an awareness of his surroundings, it was a distraction that Sideswipe latched onto. Sideswipe automatically stretched out his external sensors to find the source of the disturbance, and left the pain and worry lingering in the back of his sub-processors.

His processors ran calculations as to the speed and spread of the tremors from one wheel to the next, and determined that the origin was on the other side of the house approximately 127.23 human feet measures away. His thermal sensors stretched their detection radius, and he detected a large mass of heat that had dug its way into the ground at the point of origin. A smaller heat source pinged on his sensors, making its way towards the crater.

Sideswipe immediately started up his motor system and began to make his way around the house. He was slightly hesitant, as he was not sure whether or not he should get himself involved. But despite his doubts, he increased his pace as the pavement gave way to wet grass.

As he was going along, the large heat source of the meteor that was rapidly cooling started to morph and rise, and in that instance Sideswipe knew exactly what it was. He burst out in speed and he fishtailed from the lack of friction the grass offered as he turned around the house. In the distance, someone started to scream.

Reacting instantly, Sideswipe leapt forward, doubling his pace as he immediately initiated a transformation. As his sub-processor accepted the request and his plates began to move around his structure, he heard someone yell in Cybertronian, "Shut up, you stupid squishy!"

Sideswipe didn't even wait for the transformation to complete.

With as much force as he could dare while his legs were still transforming –as they had already separated from his alt-form but had no solid structure- Sideswipe pushed his form up and off the ground towards the Decepticon. He practically forced his arms apart from the chassis of the car, ripping the few minor connections that still held his arms in place and doing a slight amount of damage. He held his arms out and forward to collide with the Decepticon. His head emerged away from his chassis and his optics onlined just in time for him to catch the pleasing sight of the utterly dumbfounded look on the purple Decepticon's face as he stood on one foot and stared in surprise at the Autobot. Sideswipe had just enough time to save the image to his hard drive before he collided full force into the other Cybertronian and brought them both tumbling down into the crater.

The constant sound of screaming disappeared instantly, and for a brief moment while his sensors were forced to reboot from the impact, the flow of information stuttered and the small heat signal disappeared. For that brief moment, Sideswipe believed that the organic had perished. Then his sensors were once more fully online, and all data packages that were lost en route were sent again and retrieved properly, the organic heat source once more jumping back into place with no change to its previous temperature.

Good, that meant that the organic was still alive.

As Sideswipe was distracted the Decepticon pinned under Sideswipe's form seemed to regain his grip on reality and he struggled against the weight holding him down. Acting quickly, Sideswipe spread out his arms and held down the Decepticon's right shoulder while pushing the 'con's face into the dirt. The Autobot growled in annoyance when his heat sensors detected the human in the exact same position as before, not even having the slightest sense to move, though he was a bit grateful that she was finally quite.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said for the Decepticon. "Get off, you fraggin' overweight Autoscrap!"

Using his right leg Sideswipe forced the Decepticon's free arm down so that he wouldn't be able to pull him off, and with his left he put pressure on the pelvis so that the Decepticon would have less of a chance of bucking him off. Sideswipe was a regular class and he knew that he wouldn't be able to hold down the carrier class for long.

Sideswipe smirked and bared his teeth at the Decepticon's rage. "No, I think I like it up here." Beneath him the Decepticon roared… and the same small heat source blinked again on his sensors, _in the exact same position_.

That stupid, _stupid_ organic seemed to have a death wish. He turned his head towards the organic and yelled, "Run!"

The Decepticon felt a slight lift of pressure and took advantage of Sideswipe's distraction, bucking the Autobot off of his form and throwing him out of the crater.

Acting quickly Sideswipe was able to right himself and land on his peds, pulling his gun out of sub-space. He tested a few shots against the Decepticon as he rose and turned to face Sideswipe, but the shots seemed to only burn the armor. He'd have to shoot in between the plating if he wanted to have any chance of winning.

The Decepticon pulled out his own weapon and Sideswipe jumped to the side, avoiding the shot that the Decepticon had immediately fired. The shot traveled through the open air and into the forest, detonating on impact and disintegrating the trees caught in the blast.

The human was still standing still, and Sideswipe had decided that he had waited long enough. Without any further thought, he charged towards the Decepticon.

If the human wasn't going to move with that sort of incentive, then the only thing left to do would be to move the human himself.

Sideswipe jumped and grabbed the Decepticon by his plating before he could fire a single shot. He pulled out one of his five plasma grenades and managed to place it under the shoulder plate of the Decepticon's shooting arm before he was pulled away and thrown once more out of the crater.

Sideswipe managed to dodge most of the shot that the Decepticon sent trailing after, but a bit of it managed to skim his right arm and tear a hole through an armor plate. On his left arm, the strength of the Decepticon's grip had dented one of his armor plates, blocking a hydraulic line and limiting finger movement.

"Did you actually think that would work ag-" The Decepticon was cut off as the Plasma grenade detonated and blew off his right shoulder plate, the hydraulics in his arm loosening and causing him to drop his gun. The Decepticon yelled in pain and gripped his shoulder with his good arm.

Sideswipe was already running when his grenade exploded and didn't even glace back to see what damage it had caused as he ran full force towards the human. She looked up and stared at him as he approached, and Sideswipe was briefly disturbed by her lack of reaction.

Was there such a thing as self-preservation in these organics? Were they _made_ to be idiotic? Did they believe that they could stand in a fight between two metallic beings five times their size and survive?

Sideswipe scooped down his right arm and picked the organic up, careful to make sure he didn't squish her. While the Decepticon was distracted he ran with her to the forest's edge and placed her in the treetops. She grabbed the branches automatically before she could fall down. Throughout the whole interaction the organic remained silent, staring at Sideswipe with wide optics.

"At least you won't squish under our peds." Sideswipe muttered to her in English before turning around and running back towards the fight.

Ahead of him, the Decepticon seemed to have nullified his pain receptors and was stooping over to pick up his gun just as Sideswipe made it back to the scene. The opportunity was a perfect one.

The Decepticon screamed as he grabbed his smoldering rear, yelling out of shock rather than pain.

Sideswipe laughed aloud and hardly gave a care when the Decepticon turned towards him with murderous intent in his eyes. The human was safe enough for now, he could put most of his focus on the battle.

If only that other human in the house would run away, then he could really focus on the fight.

o.0.O.0.o

'_Well this is an awfully odd predicament to find one's self in._' Samantha thought as she watched her backyard from above.

Down in the backyard, the two robots continued to fight each other. With each blow they sent at each other a harsh, metallic clang resonated throughout the air. When one was thrown to the ground, the whole earth seemed to shake with the force. Then, when the larger, purple bot fired off a shot, the sound was so odd that she could only compare it to an electronic rendition of nails on a chalkboard.

They mainly focused on hand to hand combat, but when they made use of their weapons craters formed and patches of forest disintegrated.

It was a battle of the titans, and she was caught in the middle. So why didn't she care?

Oh, that's right. She was completely insane.

When one just escaped death losing one's mind is perfectly reasonable. Or at least that is what she assumed. She had never really realized in the past when she had come close to death. Having a young mind and an idealistic sense of the world made her unaware of the fact that she might not one day wake up, and that electrical socket that she was about to put her hand in would be what caused it. But now she was older, and hopefully wiser, and she knew that she would one day die. She just never thought that it'd be in a dream like this.

After all, what else could it be? Giant robots, most likely aliens if that meteor-robot's suspected origins were true, fighting each other to the death. That in itself was weird. Aliens that had, instead of attempting to conquer the Earth, moved their own battlefield to Earth. It seemed that Hollywood was wrong all those times before. It just didn't make any sense, none whatsoever. One had tried to squish her, the other tried to save her.

As Samantha pondered, her mind became incased in fog and her consciousness drifted from her body. She felt her limbs becoming limp as her mind parted from her. While her mind rose, gravity pulled on her physical body, and she felt her body give slightly and fall an inch. The sensation immediately snapped her back into consciousness and caused her to reflexively tighten her grip on the branches. She had forgotten that she was in a tree.

Samantha looked down, each branch as it emerged further down the trunk was larger than the last. The branches and pine needles spread wide, preventing the ground from being viewed. She wasn't on the top of the tree, but she was certainly near it, and a drop from this height would kill her. Her hands trembled but she refused to let go. She let her fear of heights root her in place; she would not attempt to climb down.

She was trapped, watching robots battle and the lands that she grew up on destroyed. She couldn't do a single thing.

This was more like a nightmare.

o.0.O.0.o

Sideswipe darted left as he avoided a shot that the Decepticon sent his way. He fired a few of his own shots, and smirked when one managed to make its way in-between the Decepticon's plaiting.

"I guess Mr. Decepticreep can't take on a bot half his size on his own. Where's your partner, lost in space?"

The Decepticon let out a bark. "Hah! At least I have backup. The poor Autoscrap is on his own. Where's _your_ partner? Oh, that's right, not here."

Sideswipe reflexively tightened his grip around his gun and dodged left as the Decepticon fired another shot. The time spent alone with Sunstreaker for several vorns seemed to have brought their sparks closer, to the point where it affected their personalities. The twin-sparks apparent distance from each other at the moment had no apparent impact of ridding Sideswipe of that effect. He managed to hold back his rage, but only just. "Nope! He'll come when he wants to. Sunny won't let himself be confined by the likes of you."

"That's not what it looked like when we trapped him on the Brig of the Nemesis." Sideswipe could feel the smirk penetrating through the words.

"Naw, just you wait. He'll explode when you mar his paint and there will be nothing but scrap left of the Nemesis and crew."

The Decepticon let a large smirk overtake his face, as if Sideswipe had just walked into a trap. "Well then, that's interesting. After all, with all Hook has done there's hardly any plating left on him, let alone paint."

Sideswipe's optics brightened as he let rage overtake him. The past couple of vorns had been one bad even after another, and by _Primus_ he had had enough. "I'll whoop your aft so hard your processors will come flying out of your head."

"I'll tell 'Sunny' you said that after Hook is done with his experiments… Not that there'll be anything left of him."

He cracked.

Sideswipe ran full force at the Decepticon with blazing white optics, shooting and screaming as he made his way towards his target. He didn't give a damn about the humans near him, he didn't give a damn as his shoulder was thrown backward from a shot sent by the Decepticon. He didn't care about his own safety.

The fight for morality, the fight against Autobot and Decepticon, for truth and justice, it had no part in this battle. It was just the Decepticon and him, and his rage. And damn if he let the other emerge from this battle anything short of headless.

Ahead of him, the Decepticon smirked.

Sideswipe jumped as he came close to his enemy, intent on shooting the Decepticon right in the optics, and blowing his processors out the other side. But when he approached, the advantage quickly changed.

Sideswipe was grabbed and pulled suddenly and he flipped through the air. He tried to control his fall but only managed to flip himself in time to land on his back. He slid over the ground, whatever he ran into tumbled and flattened. Organic matter shoved its way under his plating and slowed his momentum. Finally he came to a rest after plowing through one final object, momentum spent. Sideswipe attempted to rise, the error log rolling across his optics conflicted with the battle-mode programming that was now dictating his movements, causing the Cybertronian glyphs to blur on the already-white screen. Whatever lay underneath him splintered and wedged its way into his plating as he placed a hand down to support his weight, the material cracking as he shifted his weight. In the back of his consciousness, he detected someone screaming.

"You know, this is even easier than I thought. Like crushing a scrappling under my foot." The Decepticon taunted and he slowly approached Sideswipe as he attempted to rise. "Who would've thought that it would be the Autobot that killed the organic?"

At those words Sideswipe looked down in shock. The material that had cracked and splintered between his plating had been wooden beams, things that the home had been constructed out of. The home had been his height, and easily twice his size, but the material was weak, bowing easily to the force of a Regular class Cybertronian toppling through it. He had plowed completely through the construction, even to its foundations, leaving behind only splintered and flattened rubble.

Then a thought suddenly popped into his head, and he remembered something that he had ignored and forgotten: the organic. A quick look at his heat radar informed him that there was something underneath that was emitting an organic heat signature… and it was rapidly losing heat.

Sideswipe glared as the Decepticon slowly approached him as if the battle had already been decided in his favor, "You'll pay for that."

The Decepticon brought up his fusion gun and smirked, "Not likely."

o.0.O.0.o

Astrotrain smirked at the Autobot pinned at gunpoint. He would have been satisfied with just killing the 'bot, but now he could send him to the pit with the death of an innocent hanging heavily on his spark. He could hear the organic that the Autobot had saved screaming at the death of the other human; she wouldn't last long either.

Astrotrain let his fusion gun charge as the Autobot held still, optics wide in shock. The Autobot's optics still shone a bright white as a byproduct of battle-mode, a fact that made Astrotrain just the slightest bit worried. Only those who had a vast amount of experience fighting and killing in near-death situations developed a heightened battle programming. It was rare to find a bot who had such programming, in both the Autobot and Decepticon factions.

As the weapon charged, he kicked the Autobot who had brought himself to one knee, knocking him back down. He left his ped on the Autobot's chasis to prevent him from rising again, and grinned as the weapon pinged ready on his HUD.

"I'll make sure to say hi to your partner for you." Astrotrain pulled the trigger just in time for him to feel the Autobot shift his whole form under his ped, causing his leg to move right in the line of fire. "Scrap."

Perhaps shooting at point-blank range with explosive shots wasn't the best plan. Well, no time to learn like the present… if you survive the present, that is.

As Astrotrain felt his leg plating give and knee joint blow apart, something strange happened to the blast, causing it to curve inward towards his chasis and blind his optics with a purple radiant energy. The energy caused his form to go flying backwards, even managing to lift him into the air despite his heftier frame.

The resilient crystal that his optics consisted of melted and his force fields finally gave way as the blast washed over him, allowing for the heat to curve the corners of his plating and burn out his nerve sensors dotted along them. His left leg plating –or what little was left of it- also had its nerve sensors destroyed, effectively cauterizing the wound. Strangely enough, his right leg was only slightly burned, but he didn't have any time to ponder on that anomaly as his body came crashing back down on the earth.

The lights in his optics tried desperately to stay illuminated despite the damage done to them and his vision flickered back on and off. His processors must have glitched several times because the Autobot popped into his field of vision, and then appeared again alarmingly close despite the time that had passed given the fact that the 'bot appeared to be walking, not running.

His eyes flickered and his processors glitched again, and there was a gun pointed at the fuel line the blast had exposed in his neck. The barrel of the gun remained black.

Then Astrotrain's optics flickered online once more, and a blinding white light obscured all else. Instead of immediately disappearing, the image faded into a unified gray, and he knew nothing else.

o.0.O.0.o

Sideswipe wiped the trickle of energon that had managed to leak from a cut on his face as he glanced at the beheaded Decepticon. His spark reveled at the sight, but Sideswipe could not manage to dismiss the guilt that heavily clung to him from the organic's death.

Battle-mode had all but left him when the Decepticon had fired that blast. Only a near impossible speed had allowed him to bring a hard-light shield up in time to deflect the blast. The shield had been a gift from a civilization long past, and unfortunately due to the way it was designed had only been fit for a one time use.

Sideswipe glanced down at the now useless small handle in his hand and twirled it around his fingers in thought. He could get rid of it seeing as it had fulfilled its purpose, but he enjoyed having small mementos every now and then. He subspaced the handle as his thoughts wandered.

He was down to four plasma grenades, with 68% life left on the battery of his plasma gun, and a radiant flare. Wait… Why did he have a flare again?

…Nevermind, it wouldn't matter. He might find a use for it in future battles, but in the meantime the flare would be written off as useless, remaining in his subspace for the forcible future.

The energon in Sideswipe's veins still had extra charge left due to the rise gotten from the battle. His battle-mode remained off, but Sideswipe still found the thrill of battle calling to him, though there was no opponent in sight. His optics flared white as his systems tried to exert the excess charge using online functions without damaging his systems. His fans whirred, still trying to expel the excess heat that had built up from the battle.

Even his most basic systems would need half a joor of repair before he could transform again, and it would be a pain in the aft trying to wait out the time needed. That impediment made him recall another annoying fact, and he was once again reminded of the reason he had come to this area in the first place: the organic.

At that thought, Sideswipe immediately brought his head up and faced it in the direction of where he had placed the femme. His optics zoomed and he saw her, a few branches down from where he first placed her, holding on with liquid leaking from her optics and her arms and legs only loosely hanging on.

Her body was already falling and Sideswipe didn't have the confidence that the organic would continue to hold herself up. He sprinted towards her, not about to let another innocent organic die while he was around. As he neared he saw her mouth move and heard a brief sob over the pounding of his legs, before her arms and legs gave way and her body went with gravity.

Sideswipe reached out just in time for her to fall into his hand. Sideswipe sighed in relief and spoke in the native's language.

"Gotcha."

o.0.O.0.o

Scientific Notes:

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Order of Class

Repurposing: Shockwave

Cycle 104/Vorn 2291

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There are six different natural occurring classes of Cybertronian, these classes differentiate between size, functionality, and spark traits. These classes, arranged by their size differences are as follows: Minibot, Miniature, Regular, Seeker, Advanced, and Carrier.

Carrier classes are known for carrying extra plates not for their bi-pedal form -as all other classes do- but for their alt-form. These extra plates are needed to expand the interior of their hold to maximize the area of storage, and allow for the carrying of other classes. Carrier classes in bi-pedal form carry twice the mass as a regular class in bi-pedal form. This extra mass slows transformation time.

Advanced classes are about 1.5 times bigger than Regular Classes. Advanced classes are known for having high tier positions in the caste system, and only those born to miners –those who reside in the bottom of the caste system- are exempt from this rule. It is interesting to note that, whether a miniature, regular, or advanced, the form of all Cybertronians chosen as a Prime is changed to that of an Advanced class.

Seeker classes are the rarest class of Cybertronian, and the only Cybertronian born with a natural spark dependency on two others of their same age. Seekers are the only class type of Cybertronian with the need to fly, and will suffer mentally if that need is not met. Carriers, while having the ability to fly, do not require flight as a means of staying sane. Seekers carry the same mass as Regulars, but their forms are slightly smaller due to much of that mass forming wings and thrusters on their backs. While a Seeker trio bond would be an interesting study, their spark sensitivity, and the rarity of seekers, would require a precision that, without further study, we do not have. Any further study without previous experience would prove to be unwise.

Regular classes are the most common class type of Cybertronian. As such, all units of measurement are based upon the Regular class. Unlike Carriers, Advanced, Seekers, Miniature, or Minibot, Regular class types are found all throughout the caste system. It has been rumored that one born as a Regular could change the caste they are assigned to, but all research into this has neither confirmed nor denied such a claim.

Miniatures are thought to be born a Regular with stunted growth. As Miniatures only differ from Regulars in size, this is very likely. However, it is unknown as to what would cause such a stunt of growth to occur. Miniatures are .75 times the size of a Regular, and are only found in the lower caste systems.

Minibots are known for their unexplained origins and their versatility in spark bonding. Minibots are only found in the lower caste systems, and usually are forced into manual labor, despite the fact that their physic does not suit such work. Their ability to bond makes their spark a very interesting case of study, and the natural sparked bias other classes seem to have for Minibots would allow for group disappearances without police concern or involvement. They will require further looking into.

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o.0.O.0.o

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**Again, I would like to thank:**

**Ray of Starlight****- For her story 'Twin Times the Fun' which inspired me to write a Sideswipe roadtrip fic.**

**A Midnight Dreary****- For her story 'Til All Are One' and her ideas that will be appearing in later books.**

**Nidia Ceylon****- For her story 'Shattered' which was the whole inspiration for book two and for the use of her ideas in later books.**

**Faecat****- For her wonderful story, 'Science and Fiction', which I believe revolutionized the Transformers fandom.**

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**And there you have it folks!**

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**I'll admit, there were a few things I tentatively added in there. I'm not sure if it had the effect I wanted, but it was put in there for a purpose... So I assume that I'm stuck with it for now. There were too many things that I questioned when writing this, but I think my biggest issue was Sideswipe's personality. This is my first time writing him, and I'm sure you guys can tell. I added a small series on this profile (call 'Lost in Space') that just allow me to play with Sideswipe's and Sunstreaker's character a bit, to kinda get to know them. I only added one small, small chapter so far, but I'm thankful for the review Mr./Mrs./Ms. anonymous left me, though I cant really tell them that since the review is, you know, anonymous :/**

**.**

**I think the hardest part when writing this is that Sideswipe is not acting under normal circumstances. He and his brother just had a shitty few _vorns_, and he was just separated from his brother only to lose the reason why he departed from his brother in the first place, not to mention him getting trapped on an island without a way of getting out without revealing himself to an organic. Plus you have the fact that his brother is being experimented on (via the spark pain), and Sideswipe's nature to be goofy and foolish goes flying out the window, off a cliff, into the deepest parts of the ocean only to hit a rift in space and end up in a different universe altogether. So it was really hard to guess how he would react...**

**.**

**I just hope I did okay.**

.

**Enjoy!**

**~ Silvera**


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